Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Education, 2019 Vol 8 No 2

Journal= of= Interdisciplinary= Studies= in= Education,= 2019= Vol= 8( )
Journal of
Interdisciplinary Studies
in Education
Editor-In-Chief, Amany Saleh
Senior Editor, Krishna Bista

Editor-In-Chief
Amany Saleh
Senior Editor
Krishna Bista
Vol. 8/No. 2 December 2019
JOURNAL OF
INTERDISCIPLINARY
STUDIES IN EDUCATION

A Biannual International Refereed Journal
Access this journal online at: http://ojed.org/jise

2019 by Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Education
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Editorial Board
Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Education

Volume 8, Issue 2 (2019)
http://ojed.org/index.php/jise
ISSN: 2166-2681
Editor-In-Chief
Dr. Amany Saleh, Arkansas State University, USA
Senior Editor
Dr. Krishna Bista, Morgan State University, USA
Research Associate/Manager
Mr. Muhammad Sharif Uddin, Morgan State University, USA
Associate Editors (2019-2021)
1. Dr. Loren Henderson, University of Maryland Baltimore County, USA

2. Dr. Lisa Lynn Porter, James Madison University, USA
3. Dr. Vanessa Dodo Seriki, Morgan State University, USA
4. Dr. Laura S. Metcalfe, Ottawa University, USA
5. Dr. Misty Cook, National University of Singapore
Advisory Board (2020-2023)
1. Ali A. Abdi, Professor, Department of Educational Studies, The University of British

Columbia
2. Benjamin Creed, Assistant Professor, College of Education, Northern Illinois University
3. Caroline Manion, Lecturer, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of
Toronto
4. Christine Gettings, Director, International Programs and Partnership , School of
International Service, American University
5. Dale Snauwaert, Professor, Department of Educational Studies, The University of Toledo
6. Eric Archer, Assistant Professor, Educational Leadership, Western Michigan University
7. Gina Gullo, Clinical Faculty, Seton Hall University
8. Haijun Kang, Associate Professor, College of Education, Kansas State University
9. Helal Hossain Dhali, Dept. of Integrated Studies in Education, McGill University,
Montreal, Canada
10. Helen Forbes-Mewett, Senior Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, Monash University
11. Jae Hoon Lim, Associate Professor, College of Education, University of North Carolina
at Charlotte
12. Jaime Lopez, Lecturer, College of Education, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
13. James Groccia, Professor Emeritus, Higher Education, Auburn University
14. Jesus 'Chuey' Abrego, Associate Professor, College of Education, University of Texas
Rio Grande Valley
15. Jo Blase Blasé, Professor Emerita, Administration and Leadership, The University of
Georgia
16. John Presley, Professor of English Emeritus and Provost Emeritus, Illinois State
University
17. Karen Embry-Jenlink, Professor Emerita, College of Education, Stephen F. Austin State
University
18. Ketterlin Geller Leanne, Professor, Simmons School of Education, Southern Methodist
University
19. Kimberly Kappler Hewitt, Associate Professor, School of Education, University of North
Carolina Greensboro
20. Lisa Merriweather, Associate Professor, College of Education, University of North
Carolina at Charlotte
21. Lydia Kyei-Blankson, Associate Professor, College of Education, Illinois State
University
22. Manhong Lai, Associate Professor, Education, the Chinese University of Hong Kong
23. Mari Koerner, Alice Wiley Snell Professor of Education, Arizona State University
24. Mariano Narodowski, Professor, School of Government, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella,
Argentina
25. Martha McCarthy, Presidential Professor of Educational Leadership, Loyola Marymount
University
26. Maysaa, Barakat, Assistant Professor, Educational Leadership and Research
Methodology, College of Education, Florida Atlantic University
27. Meredith Mountford, Associate Professor
28. Michael Owens, Associate Professor, McKay School of Education, Brigham Young
University
29. Michele M. Welkener, Associate Professor and Coordinator, HE &CSP, University of
Dayton
30. Paula Cordeiro, Dammeyer Distinguished Professor of Global Leadership and Education,
University of San Diego
31. Peggie Constantino, Associate Professor, School of Education, The College of William &
Mary
32. Rosalyn Eder, PhD Candidate, University of Fribourg (Switzerland)
33. Rosita López, Professor Emeritus, Northern Illinois University
34. Shantalea Johns, Part-time faculty, Wayne State University
35. Shuhua Chen, Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong
University
36. Stephen Kotok, St. John's University
37. Tiedan Huang, Assistant Professor, DELAP, Fordham University
38. Tomika Ferguson Assistant Professor, School of Education, Virginia Commonwealth
University
39. Valerie Hill-Jackson, Assistant Dean, Educator Preparation, Texas A&M University
40. Venus E. Evans-Winters, Professor, Educational Administration & Foundations, Illinois
State University
41. Victoria Sherif, Assistant Professor, Educational Leadership, Wichita State University
42. William Hill, Dean of Administrative and Organizational Studies, Wayne State
University
43. Yi-Chin Wu, Associate Director of Assessment, Kent State University
44. Terrell L. Strayhorn, Vice President, LeMoyne-Owen College, USA
Editorial Board (2018-2021)
1. Dr. Alice M. Jackson, Morgan State University, USA [alice.jackson@morgan.edu]

2. Dr. Alvin L. Crawley, George Mason University, USA [acrawle@gmu.edu]
3. Dr. Amrit Thapa, University of Pennsylvania, USA [athapa@gse.upenn.edu]
4. Dr. Anne Corwith, University of Maryland, USA [anne.s.corwith@gmail.com]
5. Dr. Bal Krishna Sharma, University of Idaho, USA [balsharma@uidaho.edu]
6. Dr. Bala Nikku, Thompson Rivers University, Canada [bnikku@tru.ca]
7. Dr. Basu Sharma, University of New Brunswick, Canada [bsharma@unb.ca]
8. Dr. Becky Atkinson, The University of Alabama, USA [atkin014@ua.edu]
9. Dr. Carol Griffiths, University of Leeds, UK [carolgriffiths5@gmail.com]
10. Dr. Damodar Khanal, The University of Manchester, U [khanal.damodar@yahoo.co.uk]
11. Dr. Derya Ucuz, Lamar University, USA [deryaucuz@hotmail.com]
12. 12. Dr. Dinesh Paudel, Appalachian State University, USA [paudeld@appstate.edu]
13. Dr. Ellen Carm, Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway [ellenc@oslomet.no]
14. Dr. Felicia A. Shanklin, Adjunct Faculty - Southern New Hampshire Universit
15. (SNHU) feliciashanklin@gmail.com
16. Mr. Harry Bhandari, University of Maryland Baltimore County, bhanda1@umbc.edu
17. Dr. Jason Bryant Assistant Clinical Professor, Auburn University
jasoncbryant@auburn.edu
18. Dr. Jeet Bahadur Sapkota, University of Tsukuba, Japan [jbsnepal@gmail.com]
19. Dr. Jesus ‘Chuey’ Abrego, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, USA
[jesus.abrego@utrgv.edu]
20. Dr. Jonathan D. Becker, Virginia Commonwealth University, USA [jbecker@vcu.edu]
21. Dr. Joonwoo Moon, Morgan State University, USA [ joonwoo.moon@morgan.edu]
22. Dr. Kamal Prasad Acharya Lecturer, Central Department of Education, Tribhuvan
University, Nepal kamalacharya@tucded.edu.np
23. Dr. Keith Butcher Clinical Assistant Professor kbutcher3@uh.edu
24. Dr. Kermit Buckner, East Carolina University, USA [ bucknerk@ecu.edu]
25. Dr. Kristina Brezicha, Georgia State University, USA [kbrezicha@gsu.edu]
26. Dr. Laxmi Prasad Ojha, Minnesota State University, USA [laxmiojha99@gmail.com]
27. Dr. Leslie A. Cordie, Auburn University, USA [lesliecordie@auburn.edu]
28. Dr. Lucy E. Bailey, Oklahoma State University, USA [Lucy.bailey@okstate.edu
29. Dr. Melanie Gurat, Statistician, University Research Center melanie.gurat@yahoo.com
30. Dr. Monica Lakhwani, Jefferson County Public Schools, USA
[monica.lakhwani@yahoo.com]
31. Dr. Nitya Nath Timsina, Roskilde University, Denmark [nitya.n.timsina@gmail.com]
32. Dr. Prithvi N. Shrestha, The Open University, UK [ prithvi.shrestha@open.ac.uk ]
33. Dr. Rashmi Sharma University of West Florida rsharma@uwf.edu
34. Dr. Regina D. Biggs, George Mason University, USA [rbiggs@gmu.edu]
35. Dr. Roberto A. Pamas, George Mason University, USA [rpamas@gmu.edu]

36. Dr. Scott Bailey, Stephen F. Austin State University, USA [baileybryan@sfasu.edu]
37. Dr. Shyam Thapa, Arkansas State University, USA [shyamsirsha@gmail.com]
38. Dr. W Bryan Bowles Brigham Young University bryan.bowles@byu.edu
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ISSN: 2166-2681
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Volume 8, Issue 2 (2019)
http://ojed.org/jise
ISSN: 2166-2681
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ARTICLES
1. Looking for Pura Vida: Disgruntled Parents in Search of Educational Alternatives

in Costa Rica
Lisa Lynn Porter -------------------------------------------------------------------1-20
2. Optimism Shapes Mindset: Understanding the Association of Optimism and

Pessimism
William R. Dardick, Elizabeth D. Tuckwillber -------------------------------21-56
3. Volunteerism is Associated with Improved Student Soft Skills: A Case

Study in a Marine Engineering Program in the Philippines
Ian I. Llenares, Custer Deocaris -------------------------------------------------57-73
4. Neuroimaging and Reading Comprehension

Kyle Perkins, Xuan Jiang --------------------------------------------------------74-94
5. Holocaust lessons for the criminal justice classroom

Celia Sporer ----------------------------------------------------------------------95-111
6. How Interdisciplinarians Work?

Sharon Woodill, Richard Plate, Nathan Jagoda ---------------------------112-129
7. Cambodian Youth Perspectives on Social and Educational Barriers

Jeremy Tost, Bob Spires, Sokleng In ---------------------------------------130-146
8. The Reading Grannies: Modelling How to Teach Reading

Sandra Lilian Stewart, Maropeng Modiba ----------------------------------147-172
9. Creating Common Ground: A Framework for Promoting Interdisciplinarity

Eric A. Goedereis, Danielle MacCartney-----------------------------------173-183
BOOK REVIEWS
10. The Dissertation Journey: A Practical Guide to Planning, Writing, and Defending
Your Dissertation
Laura Schaffer Metcalfe ---------------------------------------------------------184-186
Peer-Reviewed Article
Volume 8, Issue 2 (2019), pp. 1-20

ISSN: 2166-2681 | https://ojed.org/jise
Looking for Pura Vida: Disgruntled Parents in

Search of Educational Alternatives in Costa Rica
Lisa Porter
James Madison University, USA
ABSTRACT
Using a transnational theoretical framework, this study explores U.S. families

expatriating to Guanacaste, Costa Rica in search of educational alternatives
to U.S. schooling. In order to meet the needs of this influx of U.S. families to
the region, schools such as La Paz Community School in Flamingo,
Guanacaste have emerged. This qualitative inquiry explores emergent themes
from 16 semi-structured interviews conducted with US parents whose
children attend La Paz. Findings reveal participants’ desire for a progressive
educational alternative for their children that embraces a more collective
vision of learning. For interviewees, frustrations with U.S. K-12 schools
became symbolic of cultural criticism of US social norms and the desire to
recreate a lifestyle removed from daily pressures in the United States.
Keywords: international education, transnational migration, white

privilege, parental satisfaction
INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND
For a small but growing number of families not satisfied with educational options
in the United States, the answer has been found in the small Latin American
country of Costa Rica. Utilizing ongoing qualitative research on U.S. Expatriates
in Costa Rica since 2005, this paper analyzes the latest wave of migration:
Disgruntled Parents looking for alternatives to U.S. K-12 schooling. Through
-1-
observation of daily practices at a Costa Rican community-based school, in
addition to 16 semi-structured interviews with U.S. emigrants or ‘expat’ families
who have relocated to Costa Rica for schooling opportunities, consistent themes
in their rationale for leaving U.S. public schools were found. These themes
include: Too Much Emphasis placed on High Stakes Testing; Lack of Socio-
Emotional and Creative Development; and the Need for Greater Global
Awareness and Social Responsibility in U.S. K-12 curriculum. These same
themes are often the focus of debate for U.S. K-12 reform and serve as the
incentive for enrolling children in alternative school models such as charter and
magnet schools, homeschooling or private schools. However, for the participants
of this study, such alternatives were not sufficient. Instead, they chose to leave
the cultural norms and daily pressures embedded in U.S. culture that often
reproduced in its schools, regardless of model type. For these families, Costa Rica
has become the ideal relocation destination, and La Paz Community schools
reflect the ideals that parents are craving for their kids as well as themselves.
Using a transnational theoretical framework, this article examines immigrants
from the U.S. in Costa Rica who identify as expatriates or “expats” while
highlighting the sentiments of the participants of this study as they reflect on their
decision to relocate to Guanacaste, Costa Rica to find educational alternatives for
their children and redefine conceptions of self, home, and community.
U.S. Emigration to Costa Rica

Costa Rica, with its lush tropical forests, vibrant culture and proximity
to the United States, has been a popular destination for decades for eco-travelers
needing rest, rejuvenation and a little adventure. Unique to other Central
American countries, Costa Rica has a long history of political peace. Moreover,
instead of depleting its natural resources for survival, it has utilized them for
economic stability and growth. Because of these factors, Costa Rica has not only
been an attractive vacationing spot but also a long-time relocation site for
immigrants from around the world. U.S. emigrants, in particular, have been
relocating to Costa Rica for centuries. In her ethnography, Imported Spices,
anthropologist Anita Gregorio Murchie (1981) examines Anglo-American
settlers who came to Costa Rica between 1821-1900. She claims there were four
primary reasons for U.S. citizens emigrating to Costa Rica during this time: the
search for personal gain, specific professional employment opportunities,
disasters (such as shipwrecks or wars), and/or adventure (p.10). Although patterns
of migration have changed for many U.S. emigrants or “expats” relocating to
Costa Rica today, the reasons ironically have not.
One of the first modern-day waves of U.S. migration to Costa Rica can
be seen among retirees. Since the 1980s, thousands of retired U.S. senior citizens
have recognized the advantages of either seasonally or permanently relocating to
Costa Rica due to its affordable costs of living, quality health care and warm
climate. Beginning in the 1990s, a growing number of young, single adults from
-2-
the United States began moving to the country in search of surfing adventures
and soon began forming “expat communities” along the coasts of Costa Rica
(Howells, 2003; Lara, Barry, & Simonson, 1995; [author]; Van Rheenen, 2017).
By the 2000s, living in Costa Rica had become a craze. The infrastructure within
the country had continued to develop, resulting in roads, airports and
accommodations that met the standards of even the most cautious of travelers. As
a result, investment opportunities were endless, particularly along the Northwest
coast of Costa Rica in the Guanacaste Province. Young adults and families began
relocating to this region in droves. Everyone was in search of an adventure and
economic opportunity. Many of the U.S. emigrants during this period were not
coming with a lot of money or education necessarily. Nevertheless, there was a
desire to create a new life (CNBC, 2005; Porter, 2009; Chacon, 2018). Often
likened to the Wild West, this time in Costa Rica’s immigrant history involved
booming real estate exchanges, including the rise of residential developments and
immigrant-owned businesses. Everyone was rushing to find a deal and start the
globalized version of the American Dream. Then, the 2008 economic collapse
occurred and the frenzy to relocate to Costa Rica froze. Incoming U.S. emigrants
with plans for investment ceased causing economic hardships for those already
in the country with existing restaurants, shops and small businesses that catered
to U.S. travelers and recent arrivals. Although many immigrants from the U.S.
living in Costa Rica tried to remain, numerous returned to the United States,
leaving vacant dwellings and unfinished construction projects scattered along the
roadsides.
Steadily, the market began to stabilize, and the lure of Costa Rica began
to attract U.S. travelers to visit Guanacaste, Costa Rica instigating them to
imagine possibilities for how to remain permanently. Since 2013, this region of
Costa Rica has experienced its next wave of U.S. emigrants emerging: educated,
socially conscious, politically moderate to liberal, middle-upper class white
parents intentionally selecting communities they wished to raise their children
while maintaining transnational economic ties to the United States (Porter, 2009).
Guanacaste: The location of choice for U.S. expats

Following the urban center of San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital, the
Guanacaste province has the highest number of immigrants from the U.S. in all
of Costa Rica and is one of the fastest-growing areas in the country (Porter, 2009;
Stevens, 2012). Three of the most popular communities for expatriates relocating
to Guanacaste are Tamarindo, Flamingo, and Potrero. Spanning approximately
fifteen miles in distance from one another, these communities not only offer
beach living but also have coalesced into a region with strong expatriate
community ties to the United States. However, despite the established networking
among U.S. expatriates, a significant “gap” or stratification (social, cultural, and
economic) has formulated between expatriates and Guanacastecos (individuals
-3-
from Costa Rica of Latin or indigenous descent whose families have lived in
Guanacaste for multiple generations).
Formation and distinction of La Paz community school

In 2007, I had just completed an extensive critical ethnography in this
region of Guanacaste that included 35 individual interviews with 21 U.S.
emigrants or “expats” and 14 Guanacastecos. The focus of these interviews
examined the growth of Guanacaste, the socio-cultural and economic impact that
the rising number of immigrants were having on the region, and the immense
socio-economic stratification between the two communities. One of the findings
from this study was a desire by both immigrants from the U.S. and Guanacastecos
to establish a community center or space where families could begin to
understand and appreciate one another’s cultures while fostering intercultural
relationships. Recognizing the growth of the region and the sentiments reflected
in the study, a group of six U.S. bilingual educators living and teaching in the
Guanacaste Province began to envision possibilities of an intercultural
community school. They held numerous public meetings in the spring and
summer of 2007 and worked collaboratively with various community members
to open La Paz Community School in the fall of 2007.
Prior to the start of La Paz, an established U.S. accredited school was the
choice option for most U.S. families with school-age children relocating to the
beaches of Northern Guanacaste. Offering PK-12 schooling, the facility was
designed with most of the amenities one would find in a typical U.S. school,
including U.S. certified teachers, a library with book titles found in public K-12
school libraries in the States, and multiple after school extra-curricular activities.
Although wealthy Costa Rican or “Tico” families attended this school with a
token number of “beca” or scholarship kids from local towns, the school’s
enrollment was predominately comprised of U.S. emigrants followed by
immigrants from Canada and Western Europe who lived in the communities of
Tamarindo, Flamingo or Potrero. The school provided assurances for parents that
their child would have a quality U.S. educational experience in the middle of
Costa Rica. It also offered transnational fluidity whereby students could
seamlessly return to schooling in the United States at any point. Additionally, the
school represented the familiar for U.S. families and created an insulated
expatriate community.
Despite having a full-service U.S. accredited school down the road, La
Paz has grown astronomically since its inception in 2007. As this next wave of
U.S. emigrants looked for amenities, their motivation was to find an alternative
to the familiar rather than a replication of what they had chosen to leave behind.
They were looking for an experience, and La Paz reflected the lifestyle and
learning environment that fueled their relocation. The school opened with 15
students and as of 2018, reached full capacity with 350 students. Most of this
growth has occurred within the last five years. La Paz’s mission is to offer a
-4-
“forward thinking model of education where students from Costa Rica and all
over the world join together to learn how to be creative, multilingual,
compassionate and responsible global leaders while engaging in authentic
learning experiences focused heavily on developing a students’ sense of place in
the world.” (La Paz, 2018). Although the school’s Costa Rican student enrollment
has grown dramatically and has maintained at least a 50% enrollment rate since
its inception, during an in-depth interview in June of 2016, the director of La Paz
explained how applicants since 2015 have predominately been U.S. families
looking for a particular educational experience for their child/children. This trend
has continued based on a follow-up interview with the director in June of 2018.
The question becomes, why La Paz? Why are these families not simply
enrolling in private schools within the United States in lieu of its K-12 public
school system and all of its shortcomings? Perhaps it is simply the perfect
combination of place, time, and need coming together. However, this assumption
de-emphasizes both the motive of these immigrants’ decision to relocate as well
as the intentionality of La Paz’s organizational design. Participants of this study
were in search of an alternative narrative that was not found in the United States
because much of the impetus for relocation was about the United States itself and
the dominant ideologies reproduced in the schools. Costa Rica, with its history of
receiving U.S. emigrants and its proximity to the United States, provided a
relatively smooth transition for relocating, purchasing property (which is
allowable for foreigners with passports), and even starting a business with its
enticing incentives for investors. This quest for an experience outside the daily
nuances of U.S. culture may explain why the United States’ private schools were
not satisfying alternatives. However, it does not address the question of how La
Paz became the site of choice.
One could argue that the answer is found in its namesake: La Paz. Much
like the country of Costa Rica itself, La Paz is committed to peace. The school
follows personal, community and world peace practices that embody compassion,
respect, communication and service. Through experiential learning and critical
thinking, students are viewed as valuable contributors and problem solvers within
and beyond the walls of the school. In less than a decade, La Paz has managed to
receive national recognition from the Costa Rican presidency, attained Costa Rica
and International Baccalaureate (IB) accreditation, and has become an academic
model visited by educators from the United States and around the globe. Its
mission: daily student-led meetings emphasizing mindfulness and community
planning, the mixed socio-economic enrollment of Costa Ricans and foreigners,
integrated multi-aged curricular activities, and learning strategies such as growth-
mindset charts and problem-solving wheels observed throughout the school are
just a few of the characteristics that make it enticing. In many ways, La Paz
reflects the ideals of an intentionally designed community that parents not only
crave for their children but also for themselves.
-5-
LITERATURE REVIEW
Globalization impacts every facet of daily life, from products to policies to

patterns. Communication and travel between locations have become more
commonplace than ever. As the number of multinational corporations grows, and
technological advances continue to increase, job opportunities abroad have
become more available, and interfacing from afar through telecommunications is
now commonplace. Often a result of globalization that Harvey (1989) first
referred to as “time-space compression,” working professionals today are now
able to complete projects, participate in conference meetings and conduct
financial transactions from anywhere in the world via the internet. Although
employment opportunities have been a determined “pull factor” in migration
studies for decades, the impact of globalization on creating more fluidity
traversing home/host spaces has led to the field of inquiry known as transnational
migration (Basch, Glick Schiller, & Szanton Blanc, 1994; Glick Schiller, Basch,
& Szanton Blanc, 1995; Guarnizo, 1994; Lundstrom, 2014; Portes, Guarnzino, &
Lagegan, 1999; Guarnizo & Smith, 1998).
Portes et al. (1999) were instrumental in establishing the concept of
transnational migration by distinguishing much of today’s migration flows from
immigrant patterns prior to the era of globalization. They argue that today’s
“phenomenon” or flow of migrants involves a proportionally high number of
individuals and contend that opportunities arising from globalization are unique
in nature and offer ongoing possibilities. Transnational migrants or
“transmigrants,” according to the foundational scholarship of anthropologists
Glick Schiller, Basch, and Szanton Blanc (1995) are
[I]mmigrants whose daily lives depend on multiple and constant

interconnections across international borders and whose public
identities are configured in relationship to more than one nation-state
(Basch et al., 1994). They are not sojourners because they settle and
become incorporated in the economy and daily life of the country in
which they reside. However, at the very same time, they are engaged
elsewhere in the sense that they maintain connections, build
institutions, conduct transactions, and influence local and national
events in the countries from which they emigrated. (p. 48)
Portes et al. (1999) furthered the distinction of transnational migration from

earlier patterns by stating:
The greater the access of an immigrant group to space-and-time-

compressing technology, the greater the frequency and scope of this
sort of activity. Immigrant communities with greater average economic
resources and human capital (education and professional skills) should
-6-
register higher levels of transnationalism because of their superior
access to the infrastructure that makes these activities possible. By the
same token, it follows that the more distant the nation of origin the less
dense the set of transnational enterprises, other things being equal. This
hypothesis is grounded on the higher cost and generally greater
difficulty of regular contact imposed by longer distances. (p. 224)
These descriptions of transmigrants/transnational migration not only rely

upon social and economic ties to two locations but also link high levels of
transnational activities to socioeconomic class dynamics. In their attempt to
distinguish the multiple “transnational morphologies,” Yeoh, Willis, & Fakhri,
(2003) claim that transnational activities are often differentiated in terms of
“levels” (Yeoh et al., p. 209). Wealthy, educated, professional, entrepreneurial
elites are often referred to as “globetrotters,” “extraterritorials,” “cosmopolitans,”
“expatriates,” “flexible citizens,” “denizens,” or “transnational bourgeoisie”
(Bauman, 1998; Cohen, 1997; Ley & Waters, 2004; Ong, 1999; Smith, 2003).
Privileged transmigrants have often been referred to as examples of
“transnationalism from above” (Guarnizo & Smith, 1998; Jackson, Crang, &
Dwyer, 2004; Westwood & Phizacklea, 2000). The phrasing of
“Transnationalism from below” is often used to describe transmigrants that cross
borders as “unskilled migrant workers, low-paid guest workers, refugees, and
exiles” (Yeoh, Willis, & Fakhri, 2003, p. 209). The purpose for such terminology
has been to draw attention to the degrees of difference between transmigrants
today:
We cannot compare the fortnightly phone call and the desperately small
amounts of money remitted by poor Sri Lankan migrant domestic
workers in the Gulf States to the transnational business deals of the
cosmopolitan entrepreneurs. . . . While all of these transactions are
transnational, the actors have very different points of departures or
degrees of autonomy over the nature of those transnational transactions
(Westwood & Phizacklea, 2000, p.117-118).
In her analysis of wealthy Chinese elites in Hong Kong, Aiwha Ong

(1999) claims that flexibility, relocation, and mobility have long been a part of
the migration process. However, as a result of transnationalism, they are no longer
“coerced” or “resisted” but instead have become “practices to strive for rather
than stability” particularly for the transnational migrant elites (p. 6). More
recently, Catrin Lundstrom’s multi-sited ethnography of privileged Swedish
women and migration examines whiteness as social capital that is both
transnational and permeable. She decodes white migration as an “oxymoron” and
focuses specifically on white Swedish expatriates in three different countries. She
-7-
illustrates how the whiteness of her participants shapes and informs their lives as
transmigrants (Lundstrom, 2014).
Transnational migration is a concept that helps situate the growing
number of U.S. citizens emigrating to Costa Rica. Self-identifying as expatriates
or “expats” vs. immigrants, this group of middle-upper class white transmigrants
has the flexibility and financial means to relocate while maintaining social,
political, economic and cultural ties to the United States that affords them the
ability to traverse international borders in a search of a subjectively better life. In
this case, white educated parents are able to utilize their privilege in finding an
educational alternative where their kids are flourishing, and their families are
finding balance amidst a beautiful, safe and inviting country. This study also
shows how transnational migration can be used as a mechanism for dissent that
contributes to larger discussions surrounding educational criticism in the United
States. Although reliant upon their national identity and economic ties in the U.S.
to be able to sustain their new lifestyle, they are choosing to reject the daily
customs and pressures of the United States by physically relocating to Costa Rica.
RESEARCH METHOD
To better understand perceptions of current K-12 public schooling in the

US, the pull factors of La Paz Community School and this most recent wave of
U.S. expatriates to Guanacaste, I spent three weeks in the summer of 2016
studying the region and returned again in the summer of 2018 for a follow-up
visit to the school/region. My methodology relies on primary data gathered
through 20 semi-structured interviews of 4 La Paz staff members and 16 U.S.
expatriate families whose child/children attend the school, totaling 36 hours
worth of interviews. This data was then coded for salient themes using grounded
theory from a constructivist perspective (Charmaz, 2014). Additionally, I
collected archival and statistical data on the school and its surrounding area’s real
estate growth. I also observed classroom instruction, school climate, including
the usage of space at La Paz Community, and interactions between expats and
Ticos at the school and in the community-at-large. Although my observations and
data analyses were useful in framing interview questions on the school and
region, this paper focuses primarily on responses from interviews collected.
Trustworthiness (referencing reliability and validity) for research reliant upon
grounded theory is derived from prolonged interaction with participants, the thick
description of data collected, the triangulation of data (combining interviews,
observations and collected data) as well as clarifying questions on interview
transcripts directed to participants during the analysis (Sikolia, Biros, Mason &
Weiser, 2013). The predominant themes that emerged during my analysis of why
U.S. families were leaving U.S. schools for La Paz included: Too Much Emphasis
placed on High Stakes Testing in U.S. K-12 Schools; Lack of Socio-Emotional
-8-
and Creative Development; and the Need for Global Awareness and Social
Responsibility in U.S. K-12 curriculum.
Participants
La Paz families who had emigrated to Costa Rica from the United States with
school-aged children were invited to participate. U.S. families who arrived in
Costa Rica with babies/toddlers or who gave birth since relocating to Costa Rica
were not included in the pool since their children had no prior experience with
U.S. schooling. Interviews with parents lasted approximately an hour and a half
and addressed a myriad of topics, including parental educational and professional
backgrounds, reasons for relocating to Costa Rica, current ties to the United
States, parenting styles, experiences with schools (both public and private) in the
U.S., and long-term plans. I have changed all the identifying information about
my participants to maintain confidentiality. With the exception of two families,
each family interviewed said that they emigrated to Guanacaste, Costa Rica with
the specific intention of their child attending La Paz. The driving motivation for
the study was to understand why. The following section will introduce the
families interviewed in the summer of 2016 and general themes that arose
regarding their reasons for pulling their children out of U.S. K-12 schools in order
to relocate to Costa Rica.
RESULTS
When comparing the 16 U.S. families interviewed in the summer of 2016 to the
21 U.S. families interviewed in the 2005-2007 critical ethnography discussed
earlier in this article, stark differences appeared. Although both sets of
participants were predominately white (with only one exception from each pool),
there were shifts in the socioeconomic backgrounds, political affiliations as well
as the regions in the United States from which they emigrated. Families that have
arrived since the economic collapse in 2008 are coming with advanced education
degrees and more financial assets, including strong transnational employment ties
in the United States while residing in Costa Rica. Families who came prior to
2008 tended to come with the intention of building financial sustainability within
Costa Rica through Real Estate Development or by opening service-related
businesses to expatriate clientele (restaurants, gyms, salons, etc.). Fourteen out
of the 16 in the 2016 pool of participants associated with the political left
compared to the previous study where both sides of the political spectrum were
represented, with the majority identifying as moderate to conservative.
The biggest shift in the two pools of families was the role that schooling
played in the relocation process to Costa Rica. In the earlier study, families
indicated their desire to find a family adventure and build economic opportunities
in the Guanacaste Region. Although school was a consideration, the U.S.
-9-
accredited school was an easy solution that offered a quality education for these
families if they were able to afford it. With the second pool, the priorities had
shifted. The majority of applicants indicated that K-12 schooling was one of the
primary motivators for relocating, and often linked their decision to larger
societal frustrations surrounding consumerism and the lack of community ties and
compassion for others.
Of the families interviewed in 2016, only two of the 16 were single-child
families, and one of the families was a single-parent household. Thirteen were
coming directly from public school districts in the United States (one of these
public schools was a charter school). Two of the families transferred to La Paz
from private schools and one of the 16 families homeschooled in the States before
arriving.
Areas of Discontent with U.S. Public Schools
As stated in the methodology section, parent interview responses fall into

three overarching themes: Too Much Emphasis placed on High Stakes Testing;
Lack of Socio-Emotional and Creative Development; and the Need for Greater
Global Awareness and Social Responsibility in U.S. K-12 curriculum. These
themes illustrate the experiences that students face within U.S. schools that mirror
contemporary critiques found within the sociology of education and today’s
critical education research. Additionally, these themes build upon participants’
discontent for the predominant values embedded within American culture.
High stakes testing

High stakes standardized testing has become a point of contention in U.S.
educational policy since President G. Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” legislation
became law in 2002. Although formal assessment tools have existed long before
NCLB, public postings that rank or “grade” school performance and correlate
funding with assessment gains had not. Since 2002, the phrase “teaching to the
test” has become a common coping mechanism for teachers struggling to increase
their students’ performance and meet the demands of administrators who want to
maintain leadership of the school (without state intervention). In fact, the public
at large has added to these pressures placed on educators and students by touting
school districts’ high scores for real estate and investment partnerships, thereby
fueling a competitive and consumerist mentality surrounding education (Farkas
& Duffet, 2015).
Testing plays a powerful role in developing the culture of today’s
schools. Pep rallies, student chants, scoreboards, and timed computer games are
just some of the strategies used to raise the importance of standardized tests and
the pressure to increase performance on a school-wide level. What is the
consequence of such an intense focus on a formal assessment? One of the most
discussed consequences of “high stakes testing” beyond the pedagogical
- 10 -
limitations placed on teachers has been the increase in testing anxiety leading not
only to physical ailments (stomach and bowel issues) but also perceptions of self-
worth for the student ( Duncan & Stevens, 2011; Luther & Becker, 2002; Jehlen,
2007; Weissbourd, 2011; Wilde, 2008).
Because of the intense focus on testing in today’s U.S. schools, it was no
surprise to see high stakes testing as the most emergent theme raised by
participants of the 2016 case study; significantly 15 out of the 16 families
interviewed, discussed testing as one of the biggest problems facing U.S. K-12
education today. Jessica, one of the participants of this study, discussed the issue
of testing anxiety and how early it begins for children:
I watched my child enter kindergarten in the U.S. with glee in her eyes
for learning. After multiple worksheets, limited play-based learning and
excessive seat time, I didn’t think it could get any worse. That is until
we entered the testing phase. By the third grade, she hated school and
was always talking about testing. She became very introverted and
always asked if her test scores were good enough. I couldn’t stand it
anymore. I felt as if I was harming my child by sending her to school.
Who would have ever thought a parent would feel this way?
This particular quote reveals the incredible pressure that children endure within
today’s culture of testing in U.S. schools while also conveying a sense of
helplessness on the part of parents toward alleviating this anxiety or helping
sustain their child’s love for learning. Several other parents expressed Jessica’s
sentiments, including Mary, who talked about how teachers are blatantly aware
of the impact testing is having but feel powerless. She reflected on her son’s
experience:
When he entered 1st grade, the state standards changed and all first
graders were required to write a story with a beginning, middle and
end. We were continually told that he was at level 3 but needed to be at
level 8. As a six-year-old, he suffered from serious anxiety. I knew this
would kill his love of reading. During a teacher conference, his teacher
actually said, “These requirements are completely developmentally
inappropriate but that is what we are required to do.”
Interestingly, three of the parents interviewed were trained educators with K-12
teaching experience in the States. They not only reflected on their disgruntlement
as parents but also as trained professionals. They, like the teacher of Mary’s son,
knew the strategies in use are causing harm. One of these individuals reflected on
her recent exit from U.S. school teaching:
- 11 -
I saw kids’ love of learning get squashed more than I can count. The
testing culture is a systematic toxin. As a teacher, we had eight-year-
olds with stomachaches. It is why parents are coming here [Costa Rica]
because it isn’t working. Children’s needs just aren’t being met.
High stakes testing was not only criticized as an ineffective measure for
assessing learning but also the impetus for establishing school climates obsessed
with results, regardless of the cost. In this case, the cost was anxiety, exhaustion
and feelings of inadequacy. In describing their children’s experiences with high
stakes testing, multiple parents empathized with pressures their children faced.
One participant admitted, “Leaving the intense pressures of our life in the States
was a freeing experience for all of us.” Costa Rica has become an alternative or
a release valve for those who no longer see the American lifestyle as the ideal.
Supporting the whole child

As testing dominates our growing schools, students can quickly become
a number whose performance is monitored primarily through exam scores.
Developing student creativity, communication, and collaboration skill sets have
become secondary. Teachers have lost the ability to individualize instruction,
conduct authentic assessment or take the time to learn about students in a more
intimate way in order to support their interest and independent learning (Garcia
& Weiss, 2016; Nichols & Berliner, 2007; Rothstein, Wilder, & Jacobsen, 2007).
The results can be detrimental. Students, as a result, can quickly “fall through the
cracks.” Ironically, in all of the aspirations to excel, mediocrity is what often
results.
Eleven out of the 16 families interviewed discussed their sentiments
about children being “simply a number” in U.S. schools and the lack of
individualized attention provided. One mother talked about her frustration in
watching her daughter’s interests and learning capabilities neglected because she
was not in need of additional test preparation. Instead, her daughter was instructed
to read independently for large periods of the day while her peers received
instruction. Tracy, another parent, shared her frustration about how little time
teachers in the States took to understand the needs of each student. Everything
was about making the grade. She felt her kids were quickly labeled as special
needs because they were unable to sit in the classroom for eight hours:
We came here solely for the education. We were in a very sheltered,

homogeneous bed and breakfast community. In the US, our sons faced
the typical boy syndrome where they weren’t as ready as the girls to sit
still and needed guidance. They often skipped steps on assignments and
moved around a lot. Their teachers didn’t know them at all. Whenever
any issue came up with the boys, the response that was always given
was that they both had learning challenges. But at La Paz, teachers care
- 12 -
about who they are and what works for each child. Because of this,
they are soaring.
Both of these participant testimonials speak to the need and desire for
differentiated instruction in U.S. schools that incorporate various learning
modalities and socio-emotional growth. Regardless of the experience and
effectiveness of a given teacher, flexible schedules and multi-modal teaching is
thwarted by growing class sizes and high-stakes testing.
Due to aging family members in the United States, Tracy’s family
planned on returning to the United States in the coming school year. She
concluded her interview by saying, “Now my kids will go back to bells, standing
in lines and sitting all day at school.” Repeatedly, interviewees discussed how
their relocation was a transformative experience. They shared at length how they
had seen their child’s demeanor shift from invisible to visible, shy to confident,
anxious to calm, sad to happy after enrolling in La Paz. Beth shared her perception
of this transition,
In the beginning, my kids were always asking their teachers for

permission to do anything. It is great to see them relax into their role as
a student. My daughter was a follower because she was so shy in the
States. Here, she is a leader and feels smart.
Multiple private school models in the United States reject the usage of
standardized testing and pride themselves on experiential learning and whole-
child instruction. Nevertheless, the daily pressures found within broader U.S.
culture minimize their viability as an option for parents seeking lasting change.
Parents talked about how their long work weeks, in addition to their child’s hectic
school and extracurricular schedules, prevented any time for focusing on a
balanced lifestyle. The cultural “pura vida” climate within Costa Rica coupled
with the educational mission of La Paz school creates an alternative that feels
more authentic in honoring the whole person—both child and parent.
Social responsibility
Parents who have enrolled their children at La Paz are seeking an
experience that builds their child’s ability to operate outside of the familiar,
removed from their daily comforts and routines within the States. Specifically,
parents emphasized their commitment in their child gaining a heightened global
awareness that allows them to become socially engaged, accepting of differences
and diversities while becoming bilingual/biliterate as a result of La Paz’s Two-
Way Language Immersion model. Jacob reflected on the experience of his two
children in this way, “Not only are my kids bilingual, they have a worldwide
awareness they’d never had if they’d remained in the States, they have amazing
comfort speaking to others with confidence that they never had.” This level of
- 13 -
comfort for difference was expressed multiple times. One set of parents echoed
this sentiment stating,
They are learning purely for the love of learning and sharing that
knowledge with the community in order to make a real difference in the
world. They are learning that there are many different people in the
world and to feel comfortable with differences. They are learning how
to follow their inner voice while honoring diverse voices and ways of
thinking. They are learning how to not only envision possibilities but
also work together in achieving them.
Hannah reflected on this newly founded comfort from a socio-economic and

cultural lens:
You are who you are and my kids have a better idea about that and their
own identities through their experience at La Paz. They are more
comfortable walking into anyone’s home and being gracious whether it
is a million-dollar home or a home with dirt floors, they are
comfortable, respectful and gracious. This makes me happy.
Like Hannah, part of the global understanding that parents wanted their children
to begin to develop involved a removal from the competitive materialism evident
in K-12 schooling. Numerous stories were shared during interviews about kids
being picked on if they did not wear name brand apparel or have the latest iPhone.
Tom, one of the parents interviewed, put it simply, “When you live outside of the
United States, you can really begin to see the addiction to consumerism. We
wanted to teach our children that there are different ways to live.” Recurrently,
as parents were reflecting on hopes for their children they simultaneously
articulated their rejection of U.S. cultural norms. As a result, La Paz became
symbolic of an educational experience for the child that reflects the preferred
values of the parents.
As stated previously, in addition to 16 family interviews conducted, I
had the opportunity to interview four La Paz staff. One of the founding La Paz
staff members interviewed said that the school’s commitment to egalitarianism
and sustainability is challenging for some. “The mindset that the world is more
than one's lived experiences can cause growth pains particularly for new U.S.
arrivals to La Paz.” He reflected on the transitional process and said that it takes
around six months for kids from the States to begin to open their minds to
different ways of thinking and doing. He jokingly referred to it as the
“Lapazification process.” Another La Paz staff member reflected on this process
in this way:
- 14 -
It is so interesting to see U.S. students come down and try to see
different perspectives. I’ve watched the process of students becoming
unstuck and less rigid around their own beliefs as they become more
open to multiple perspectives. By the end of the year, U.S. kids are so
much happier, grateful and aware of their actions. It is like a
metamorphosis. They come out of their head and emerge from
ethnocentrism.
The staff at La Paz talked about how this process can also be observed
in their interactions with parents. As one staff member said, “In the United States,
it is customary to demand certain things and think your ways are superior.”
Occasionally, families will relocate to Guanacaste because they have dreams of
living internationally with fewer attachments to U.S. comforts and practices.
However, in reality, the socio-cultural differences become too much and they
soon return home. In most cases, parents too begin to feel a sense of freedom and
a renewed commitment to the community and world. Gloria, one of the parents
interviewed with high-school-aged children at La Paz said, “We work hard to un-
entrench ourselves from the rigid mentality in the States. We like living here
better, simply put.” Gloria, like other parents, felt empowered that her family had
left the United States and expressed how they had become more globally
conscious of the world around them by doing so.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
La Paz community school as the site of this study bore a great impact on the
expatriates’ decision to relocate as well as remain in Costa Rica. Although the
level of frustration for U.S. public schools varied greatly between participants of
this study, all but one of the participants’ confidence in La Paz as a place of
learning far surpassed their faith in U.S. schools. The parent who differed in her
response said she wanted to have more structure with a set routine in addition to
a larger circle of peers for her child. Ironically, the remaining 15 found these
reasons to be motivators for staying in Costa Rica. Multiple comments were made
about the entrenched routines and rigid policies found in the educational system
of the States. As one parent put it, “Trying to change anything within the K-12
system is like shoveling shit against the tide. From the teacher to the principal to
the superintendent. It is a hopeless and maddening effort.”
Drawing from their liberal political ideology, most participants of this
study left the United States seeking a progressive educational alternative for their
children that embraced a more collective and global vision of learning and the
world. Yet, the question remains at what cost? Must one leave a school, system,
and country in order to find a better educational experience? Alternatively, should
a child remain in a mediocre and often troubled system in order to be a part of the
change? For many of those interviewed, hope for change is no longer found
- 15 -
within repairing the system but abandoning it to support ideals that reflect how
they would like the world to be.
As interviews continued, individual frustrations with U.S. K-12 schools
became symbolic of cultural criticism on U.S. cultural norms. Schools, often a
reflection of the society that created them, became the tipping point for these
families in reassessing life and its priorities. Even though finding an alternative
educational experience was a primary factor for relocating to Costa Rica, parents
soon found themselves experiencing a sense of renewal with the opportunity to
hit the reset button. By relocating, they gained the opportunity to remove
themselves from the stressors found in the United States and to create a carefully
designed lifestyle that not only fosters experiential and global learning for their
child but also shields them from the realities and pressures associated with the
daily affairs in the United States. After all, when parents are happy, kids are happy
and vice versa. Endless comments were shared during interviews about the
relaxed atmosphere participants experienced in Costa Rica; the additional family
time they were experiencing; new hobbies that had been acquired; self-care and
holistic health treatments that were now daily routines; and a renewed love of
learning as a family by attending La Paz. Unfortunately, relocation in search of
better schooling opportunities and a more balanced and relaxed life is a pipe
dream for most families.
The decision for these families to leave their daily routines and comforts
takes courage, but it is also reliant upon privilege. Much like Catrin Lundstrom’s
ethnographic work on the migration of privileged Swedish women mentioned
earlier in this article, U.S. emigrants in this study are able to rely upon their
privilege as white educated U.S. citizens to transform their lives and the lives of
their children by relocating. This relocation, however, reproduces many of the
cultural capitalistic assumptions they are fleeing due to their transnational ties,
social capital and economic resources that allow for their recreation of home in
Costa Rica. Even the self-described terminology of “expats” points out the racial
privilege and power of these U.S. families. Despite the varied reasons why
individuals across the globe relocate, the term “expatriate” is seldom used to
describe transnational flows. It is never used, for example, to describe immigrants
in the United States from Mexico, Kenyans in the United Kingdom, Filipinos in
China or even Nicaraguans in Costa Rica. Rather, its usage has been given an
elite status and reserved exclusively for white European and North American
emigrants who migrate across the globe carrying their racial and national
privilege across borders.
IMPLICATIONS
This study crosses multiple disciplinary lines and audiences. For migration
scholars, this work provides an interesting example of transnational migration in
today’s world. Specifically, it explores push/pull factors that have inspired
- 16 -
families for generations to migrate across borders in search of educational
opportunities and an improved quality of life. However, the focus of this study
challenges common perceptions of push/pull factors and the direction of
migratory flows, particularly as it relates to U.S. migration. In this case, the
immigrant narrative in search of the American Dream in the United States has
been replaced by educated, middle-upper class white families wishing to leave it.
Through the topic of K-12 schooling, interviews revealed a desire to reject
cultural norms embedded in the United States by consciously choosing to create
a counter-narrative for families. Nevertheless, this counter-narrative is still reliant
upon privileges derived from their lives in the United States (privileges associated
with U.S. passport, ongoing employment in the U.S, financial assets in the U.S.).
For education scholars and policymakers, this study contributes to the
growing critical educational research examining the state of today’s U.S. public
schools, including high-performing schools. Focusing on a particular school in
one province of Costa Rica potentially limits the scope of this study and the
myriad of possibilities why U.S. expatriates continue to relocate to Costa Rica.
Additionally, comparing a small, international, private community school to
suburban or urban U.S. K-12 experiences do not directly correlate. La Paz is a
community model that would be difficult at best to replicate systematically.
Doing so strips away the meaning of a community-based project. Despite these
differences, examining school choice as a reason for relocating to Costa Rica is a
compelling case study when analyzing the limitations of today’s public schools
and the lengths that parents will take to seek alternatives when resources permit.
As one parent stated, “We are probably screwing ourselves professionally by
relocating to Costa Rica but our kids are doing great and learning things that we
could only hope to find in the States.”
The 16 families who were interviewed from La Paz all left high
performing districts. If parents from the most sought after schools within the U.S.
are looking for alternatives, it is no longer solely an issue of educational access
when critically examining U.S. K-12 schooling; it is about a broken system.
It would be in my home country's interest to make a change in

the U.S. education system. I have never met a parent who is
happy with it. Students are adaptable, and they will accept
what they feel they cannot change. Parents are busy, and they
will continue to go with the flow. The citizens will continue to
fund it through their taxes. The PTA will continue to try, and
hopefully make a difference. I realized that my children didn't
have time for that. They needed a better system now. A
significantly better system. We opted to leave our country for
it. We realize that most Americans won't be able to exercise
this option. If this study could be a catalyst for change, I am
so happy to be a part.
- 17 -
Parents are expressing dissatisfaction and even helplessness while kids
are feeling invisible and overly stressed. The industrious and productive fervor
embedded within the U.S. cultural psyche is emblematic of what has been
described as the faults of today’s schools. In today’s global economy, the ability
to hear and understand one another demonstrates a “soft skill” that, at least for
now, has not been valued nor implemented within U.S. public schooling. This
suggests that the students who attend La Paz will be advantaged individually from
their participation in it, but this phenomenon also reproduces inequality. Those
who are able to attend a school like this reproduce class structures in the U.S. and
globally. Further studies on the socio-economic impact of immigrants in Costa
Rica from the U.S., as well as the impact of international community-based
schools on Costa Rican’s public schools, would provide additional insights to
this topic.
One of the greatest contributions the United States has offered its citizens
and the world is the idea of free public education. It has been an evolving process
with multiple flaws throughout its history, but one like no other of its kind. Yet,
if parents today are desperately trying to seek alternatives through lotteries,
homeschooling, private education in the States or in this case, relocating to Costa
Rica, the system and society which created it is in jeopardy. Steps toward repair
will not be found in labeling students “at-risk” or schools as “failing” but in re-
envisioning education for the 21st century that reflects a commitment to
relationships and a love of learning for our future generations within and across
borders. La Paz is an ideal that families across the U.S. are yearning to create
and be a part of, and the challenge becomes in shifting the school as a site that
reflects the social breakdowns of society to the model or catalyst that drives
change.
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Lisa Porter, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at James Madison

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porte2LL@jmu.edu
Manuscript submitted: June 19, 2019

Manuscript revised: September 27, 2019
Accepted for publication: October 9, 2019
- 20 -
ISSN: 2162-3104 Print/ ISSN: 2166-3750 Online

Volume 8, Issue 2 (2019), pp. 21-56
© Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Education
https://ojed.org/jise
Optimism Shapes Mindset: Understanding the

Association of Optimism and Pessimism
William R. Dardick
George Washington University, Washington, USA
Elizabeth D. Tuckwiller
George Washington University, Washington, USA
ABSTRACT
The present study investigated our hypothesis of an underlying relationship

between optimism/pessimism and implicit theories of intelligence. We
investigated the psychometric properties of optimism and mindset scales in
our sample, compared confirmatory factor analysis models of the scales,
examined the full measurement model to confirm quality measurement of the
final structural phase of investigation, and finally conducted two competing
structural equation models. We found that the direct pathway from optimism
to growth mindset was significant, and the pathway from pessimism to fixed
mindset was also significant. However, there were no significant direct effects
of optimism on fixed mindset or pessimism on growth mindset. Measurement,
research, and practice implications are discussed.
Keywords: mindset, optimism/pessimism, Satorra and Bentler corrections,

structural equation modeling
21
INTRODUCTION
The role of nonacademic factors in educational contexts relative to student

performance and outcomes has gained considerable attention over the past
two decades, and the relationships among these nonacademic variables and
student outcomes is evident. The recent inclusion of nonacademic indicators
in the Every Student Succeeds Act (2015), the most recent re-authorization of
the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, signals a broad
acceptance that factors other than those that are strictly academic are an
important consideration in educational achievement. A number of
nonacademic variables, such as implicit theories of intelligence (often
referred to as “mindset”), grit, and optimism for example, and their
relationships to student outcomes have been of recent interest. Although a
good deal of research has been conducted on mindset (see Paunesku et al.,
2015), its relationship to optimism has only been theoretically implied
(Duckworth & Eskreis-Winkler, 2013) and preliminarily established through
a few correlational studies (e.g., Tuckwiller, Dardick, & Kutscher, 2017).
There is a need to improve our understanding of how individuals’
levels of optimism (dispositional, expectancy and explanatory elements)
relate to their mindset, and addressing that gap was a specific aim of the
present study. We were curious to understand how one’s optimism and/or
pessimism – that is one’s expectation of positive or negative future
experiences – might shape one’s mindset toward expecting to improve
intelligence (an optimistic expectation) or being unable to improve
intelligence regardless of effort (a pessimistic expectation). We also
hypothesized that optimism represents a broader expectation than mindset,
and we speculated that this expectation of positive or negative future events
might be a higher order factor in shaping one’s mindset expectations. Thus,
to explore this hypothesis, we endeavored to model the relationship between
optimism (and pessimism when we found evidence of the two-factor model)
and fixed and growth mindset.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Implicit Theories of Intelligence

There has been a recent increase in research investigating implicit
theories (e.g., De Castella & Byrne, 2015; Gal & Szamoskovi, 2016;
Schroder, Dawood, Yalch, Donnellan, & Moser, 2015). Implicit theories can
be conceptualized as beliefs individuals hold, about which they have no
explicit awareness, which influence their choices, attitudes and behaviors. An
22
individual may hold implicit theories about a number of constructs including
personality (Yeager, Trzesniewski, & Dweck, 2013), anxiety (Schroder et al.,
2015), and intelligence (Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Dweck, 2007). Implicit
theories of intelligence are by far the most widely studied implicit theories
and have been the focus of a large body of research regarding academic
motivation and achievement. Much of the research in this domain is
attributable to Dweck and colleagues (Dweck; 2000; Paunesku et al., 2015;
Romero, Master, Paunesku, Dweck, & Gross, 2014; Yeager & Dweck, 2012)
who have shown that students tend to hold one of two implicit theories about
their intelligence: 1) an entity theory of intelligence (or “fixed mindset”) in
which intelligence is thought to be fixed and not amenable to change or
development, or 2) an incremental theory of intelligence (or “growth
mindset”) in which the individual believes intelligence can grow and improve
with effort and experience.
Empirical investigations of mindset provide clear evidence that these
implicit theories are linked to academic achievement and motivation. For
example, Romero et al. (2014) found that middle school students who
believed that intelligence could be developed (that is, those who had a growth
mindset) had higher grades and were more likely to enroll in advanced math
courses. These results mirror other studies in which growth mindset has been
associated with higher math grades (Blackwell et al., 2007) and advanced
course enrollment (Paunesku et al., 2015). Implicit theories of intelligence
have also been linked to academic motivation (Baird Scott, Dearing, &
Hamill, 2009) and long-term academic achievement (Tetzner & Becker,
2017; Yeager et al., 2014). These data strongly suggest that how individuals
think about intelligence and their beliefs about its malleability are related to
overall academic motivation and outcomes. These understandings are
especially important in light of the fact that mindset is responsive to
intervention and changeable. Understanding the role of mindset in long-term
academic outcomes and overall motivation and academic performance
approaches facilitates potentially critical research related to academic
outcomes and ultimately to life outcomes.
Researchers often measure mindset with the Implicit Theories of
Intelligence Scale (ITI Scale) (Dweck, 2000). This eight-item scale measures
respondents’ endorsements of either fixed mindset items (n=4) or growth
mindset items (n=4) using a Likert-like scale. A number of studies have
indicated that the scale is reliable and demonstrates good overall internal
consistency, construct validity, and discriminant validity (De Castella &
Byrne, 2015), and several studies have found the scale to be reliable and valid
for students with learning disabilities (Baird et al., 2009; Tuckwiller et al.,
2017).
23
General vs. self-theory. However, in a recent paper, De Castella and
Byrne (2015) raised an important question regarding the ability of the ITI
Scale to distinguish between an individual’s beliefs about developing
intelligence in general and an individual’s beliefs about developing his or her
own personal intelligence. They suggested that while the ITI Scale may
reliably and validly measure an individual’s beliefs about the ability to change
intelligence in general, this general belief might not necessarily indicate that
an individual believes that he or she can change his or her own personal
intelligence (De Castella & Byrne, 2015). Indeed, some research suggests that
judgments about others’ abilities vs. one’s own abilities are often quite
disparate, based on a number of self-enhancing as well as self-diminishing
biases (De Castella & Byrne, 2015). This led De Castella and Byrne (2015)
to investigate whether there were subtle but important differences between
students’ general theories about the malleability of others’ intelligence and
their self-theories regarding the malleability of their own intelligence.
The Revised Implicit Theories of Intelligence (Self-Theory) Scale.

To conduct this investigation, De Castella and Byrne (2015) modified the
original ITI Scale (Dweck, 2000) into a first-person self-theory scale by re-
writing the original items into first person statements. For example, the
original (and more general item) from Dweck’s (2000) ITI Scale, “To be
honest, you can’t really change how intelligent you are” was revised to an
explicit first-person statement on the Revised ITI Self-Theory Scale: “To be
honest, I don’t think I can really change how intelligent I am” (De Castella &
Byrne, 2015; p. 261). All eight of the original ITI Scale items were revised
into first person statements and the Revised ITI (De Castella & Byrne, 2015)
was administered to 643 Australian high school students, evaluated
psychometrically, and examined in terms of its predictive usefulness in
relation to other constructs of interest (e.g., motivation and academic
achievement).
The Revised ITI had good internal consistency overall (α = .90) and
good internal consistency for both the incremental mindset and entity mindset
subfactors (α = .87 and α = .92, respectively). Using confirmatory factor
analysis, they found that the two-factor model fit both the original ITI scale
and the Revised ITI Scale. They also found high reliabilities for combined
and reverse coded scales, suggesting that the measure also performed well as
a unidimensional instrument (e.g., in the one factor model of the construct,
the implicit theory of intelligence is indicated along a continuous dimension
with incremental beliefs at one end of the scale and entity beliefs at the other.)
24
The data did indicate a more adequate model fit for the Revised ITI scale than
the original ITI scale.
De Castella and Byrne’s (2015) analyses and discussion indicated
that the Revised ITI scale is useful. However, it is important to further
evaluate the indicators, considering model fit was better for the two-factor
model, but RMSEA criteria of .08 was only met for the two-factor model on
the Revised ITI scale, and not met for the original ITI scale. What this calls
into question is not if the competing two factor model is superior; it clearly is
the more appropriate model based on all incremental model fit indices. We
instead question the absolute measure of good fit since RMSEA was in a
range that was neither good nor bad, and we cannot say there is “relatively
good fit between the hypothesized model and the observed data” (Hu &
Bentler, 1999). Therefore, although there was evidence that the scale was
useful, the model fit warranted additional evaluation, which we discuss later
in more detail.
To investigate the usefulness of examining a self-oriented implicit
theory compared to a general implicit theory, the researchers conducted t-tests
to compare scores on both measures. These analyses indicated a small but
statistically significant difference on the original ITI Scale vs. the Revised ITI
scale, indicating that students more strongly endorsed a fixed mindset view
of intelligence when considering the malleability of others’ intelligence as
compared to the malleability of their own intelligence (d=.17). In other words,
students believed that their own intelligence was more malleable than the
intelligence of others. Furthermore, two-step hierarchical regression analyses
indicated that while both scales accounted for a significant amount of variance
in: achievement goals, performance approach, performance avoidance,
mastery approach, helplessness attributions, self-handicapping, truancy,
disengagement, and grades, scores on the Revised ITI Self-Theory Scale
predicted, above and beyond the General ITI Scale, unique outcome variance
on these dependent variables. The researchers interpreted these results to
mean that “the self-theory scale was consistently superior when both
measures were used to predict the dependent variables” (De Castella & Byrne,
2015; p. 257).
Optimism
The construct of optimism has been explored by researchers
interested in both its measurement as well as its outcome correlates.
Particularly for education settings, a few researchers have explored how
optimism is related to important school-based outcomes. For example,
Boman, Smith and Curtis (2003) found that more optimistic children had less
hostility toward school and were less likely to engage in angry displays in
25
school settings. They also found that optimism was linked to more classroom
involvement, an important factor in overall school engagement. However, in
general, optimism has received notably less research attention in the field of
education than has mindset.
The optimism construct has a number of differing conceptualizations,
but two notions of particular interest relative to student outcomes are 1)
optimism as a disposition – that is, a relatively stable personality trait (e.g.,
Scheier & Carver, 1985), and 2) optimism as a cognitive process (Buchanan
& Seligman, 1995). In research exploring dispositional elements of optimism
as well as expectancy (a cognitive component of optimism), both have been
related to nonacademic student outcomes such as school involvement, and
dispositional optimism has been noted as specifically important to counteract
negative expectations (Boman & Yates, 2001).
More recently, optimism, especially as an explanatory style, has been
conceptually and theoretically related to mindset (see Duckworth & Eskreis-
Winkler, 2013), but there is very limited empirical data relative to the
associations between optimism and implicit theories of intelligence. There is,
for example, evidence of a relationship between optimism and perceived
controllability of events (a related but distinct concept from the malleability
component of implicit theories; see Harris, 1996), and a recent study found a
clear correlation between optimism and implicit theories of intelligence in
adolescents with learning disabilities (Tuckwiller et al., 2017). However,
there is clearly a need to improve our understanding of how individuals’ levels
of optimism (dispositional, expectancy and explanatory elements) relate to
their implicitly held theories of intelligence. Addressing that gap was a
specific aim of the present study.
To measure optimism, many consider the Life Orientation Test-
Revised (LOT-R) (Scheir, Carver, & Bridges, 1994) to be the gold standard
in measurement. The LOT-R is a 10-item instrument designed to measure
dispositional, or trait level, optimism. Three items measure optimism, three
items measure pessimism, and four items (filler; not scored) are designed to
detect faking positive. The scale has been found to have acceptable reliability
and validity with numerous populations (Gustems-Carnicer, Calderón, &
Santacana, 2017; Hirsch, Britton, & Conner, 2009; Scheier et al., 1994).
While some studies suggest that a unidimensional construct (with optimism
distributed along a continuum from low to high) demonstrates sufficient fit
(e.g, Vautier, Raufaste, & Carious, 2003; Scheier et al., 1992), other studies
indicate that a two-factor solution with optimism and pessimism functioning
as separate factors is more appropriate (e.g., Gustems-Carnicer et al., 2017;
Ottati & Noronha, 2017; Tuckwiller et al., 2017). Thus, in the present study,
we explored the data to interpret the best fitting model for the data.
26
Guiding Conceptual Framework
Beliefs and expectations can significantly shape life experiences and
outcomes. Some expectations represent acceptance of a “truth” without
evidence or prior experience (akin to a “belief”), while other expectations may
be shaped and contoured by past experiences. There is evidence that although
many of the expectations an individual holds are conscious, not all of them
are, and furthermore that expectations, conscious or not, alter an individual’s
experience of the self and the world (Berdik, 2013). An individual’s mindset
may well function initially as a belief, as Dweck and others note, that is not
held consciously. Early in life, one may hold a belief that with effort and
experience, one can increase intelligence (growth mindset) or one may
believe that intelligence is immutable and static (fixed mindset). However,
over time, and with repeated experiences of success and failure, one may
come to hold, based on those past experiences, a strong expectation
(conscious or not) about one’s ability to shape intelligence. Similarly,
optimism has been viewed as a disposition (similar to a belief in that it can
exist in the absence of evidence) as well as an expectation that is shaped by
past experiences. Compelling evidence of the power of expectation on
outcomes suggests that the same behaviors can result in drastically different
outcomes, based upon expectations, whether we are aware of those
expectations consciously or not (Birdek, 2013).
As we considered the potential involvement of optimism in implicit
theories writ large, we realized that it is impossible to conceptualize the notion
of a theory of intelligence (conscious or not) without the construct of
expectation. Simply put, does an individual expect that their effort and
persistence will result in a change to their intelligence? It is similarly
impossible to think about optimism, especially relative to school-age
individuals, without the notion of expectation; does one expect good things to
happen or negative things to happen in terms of academic outcomes and
experiences? Thus, we were curious to understand how one’s disposition
toward optimism and/or pessimism – that is one’s expectation of positive or
negative future experiences – might shape his or her mindset toward
expecting to improve intelligence (an optimistic expectation) or being unable
to improve intelligence regardless of effort (a pessimistic expectation). In
short, expectations shape outcomes, and optimism and mindset are both
comprised, at least in part, by expectation. We also hypothesized that
optimism is a broader expectation than mindset, and we speculated that this
expectation of positive or negative future events might be a higher order factor
in shaping one’s mindset expectations. Thus, to explore this hypothesis, we
endeavored to model the relationship between optimism (and pessimism
27
when we found evidence of the two-factor model) and fixed and growth
mindset.
The Present Study

The purpose of the current pilot study was three-fold, with an
overarching goal to help explain the relationship of optimism and pessimism
with growth and fixed mindset. First, we were interested in the use of the
Revised Implicit Theory of Intelligence Self-Theory Scale (De Castella &
Byrne, 2015) for American university students. Although the original ITI
Scale (Dweck, 2000) has been used in research with university students, the
Revised ITI had not been, and we were eager to evaluate its psychometric
properties with a university population.
Second, in the measurement stage of investigation, we aimed to
follow up on research by De Castella and Byrne (2015) regarding the
comparison of one and two factor confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) models
for both the original ITI and the Revised ITI. In doing so, we split the
measurement phase into a preliminary phase and a full measurement model
phase. In the preliminary measurement phase, four CFA models were
examined when the two mindset scales (general and self-theory) were
combined to explore evidence of the number of factors in the two scales. We
wanted to know if a higher order mindset factor exists, or alternatively
provide evidence for clear self-theory vs. general theory and fixed vs. growth
mindset factors as a four-factor model. We finished the preliminary stage by
investigating the one- and two-factor models for optimism and pessimism.
The full measurement CFA model phase examined all mindset factors with
both optimism and pessimism to examine misspecification and add
confidence to the measurement portion of our study.
Finally, we wanted to pilot competing structural equation models
(SEM) to model and explain the multiple factors in the mindset and optimism
scales for our population. The model we considered was driven by theory and
research. Given past research, our expectation was to find evidence of two-
factor models for all three scales (optimism, general mindset, and self-theory
mindset) for a total of six factors. We also expected that optimism and
pessimism would have a large effect on growth and fixed factors, respectively
(see conceptual diagrams in the next section for further detail).
In both the second and third stage of the analysis, we also addressed
the essential issue to consider techniques that can account for non-normality
that often arises for Likert scale data when considering data-model fit
(Jöreskog, 1993; Lee & Bentler, 1990; Muthén, 1993; Muthén & Kaplan,
1985, 1992; Savalei, 2014; Simsek & Noyan, 2012). Likert type scales are
widely used as if the data are continuous without correction for statistical
28
model-fit indices. In the present study, we corrected CFA and SEM fit-indices
using techniques developed by Satorra and Bentler (1994), discussed further
in the Methods section.
The Conceptual Path Diagram

Figure 1 represents our conceptual model, which displays the latent
variables related to optimism and mindset and how we theorized they were
related to each other. Only the structural model is presented, as items in the
measurement portion of the model were indicators only for the appropriate
subscales and no cross-loading was permitted (e.g., general growth mindset
items were only indicators of the factor of the same name). The first, model 1
(Fig. 1), shows an uncrossed path diagram, in which the parent relationship
of optimism has a direct path to growth mindset factors as children, and the
parent relationship of pessimism has a direct path to fixed mindset factors as
children. However, in model 1 we did not cross over to predict fixed mindset
from optimism and growth mindset from pessimism.
Optimism Pessimism
General Self General Self

Growth Growth Fixed Fixed
Mindset Mindset Mindset Mindset
Figure 1. Conceptual structural model for optimism and mindset uncrossed. Paths are
permitted: from optimism to growth factors but not fixed factors; from pessimism to fixed
factors but not growth factors. Optimism and pessimism are correlated. Mindset factors are
correlated.
We compared this hypothesized measurement model 1 to model 2
(Fig. 2) in which paths were fully crossed, permitting paths from optimism
and pessimism as parents to all four factors (that is, general fixed mindset,
general growth mindset, self-theory fixed mindset, and self-theory growth
mindset). This model resulted in eight total paths of interest. Our pilot
research questions were based on conceptual models. We wanted to examine
29
whether the crossover paths to predict fixed mindset from optimism and
growth mindset from pessimism would be significant and if adding these
paths would significantly increase the overall model fit. We hypothesized that
the crossover paths would not be significant, nor add significantly to the
overall model.
Optimism Pessimism
General Self General Self

Growth Growth Fixed Fixed
Mindset Mindset Mindset Mindset
Figure 2. Conceptual structural model for optimism and mindset fully crossed. Optimism and
pessimism have paths to all four mindset factors. Optimism and pessimism are correlated.
Mindset factors are correlated.
In the development of these models (Figs.1 and 2) from theory, it is

important to note that model 2 is an equivalent model to the full measurement
model in phase one, with the distinction of having eight direct paths instead
of correlations among those variables. All equivalent models have equal
overall model fit, but it is the structural comparison between the measurement
model and structural model 2 that is interesting to us. Using model 2 as a
competing model to model 1 helped us understand whether the model with
crossed loadings had better structural fit than model 1 with only uncrossed
paths. We also left our modeling open to the possibility that empirically an
additional model might arise (e.g., two factors for mindset instead of four)
when investigating in the measurement phase.
30
RESEARCH METHOD
Participants
Participants were selected through a stratified (gender, ethnicity, and
degree program) random sample of 2,000 students from a mid-Atlantic
university to represent the university population and invited to participate via
email. Students were from undergraduate, graduate and non-degree programs
across the university. Two hundred and ninety students submitted the survey;
however, 45 participants submitted no responses or such limited information
that the responses and demographics were missing substantial data and could
not be used in the analysis. Thus, 245 undergraduate and graduate students
responded completely to the scales.
Demographic information for the initial 2,000 participants selected
was acquired from the university, but the 245 participant respondents self-
reported demographics on the survey, so students could choose to remain
anonymous. Tables 1 through 3 provide a detailed breakdown of demographic
information on gender, ethnicity and degree for both the initial sample and
responding participants. The response rate for student participants who
completed the survey was 12.25% (14.50% including those who started but
did not complete the survey). Response rate was impacted by students not
using university email or not using university emails as a primary source. The
responding sample identified as more female (69.80%) and Caucasian
(63.67%) when compared to the initially selected participants who were
58.50% female and 51.90% Caucasian. A further investigation of the
discrepancy in ethnicity revealed that those identified as Asian (9.55%) in the
initial sample were overrepresented among those who responded to the survey
(16.73%), while the “Other” ethnicity category (15.85% in the initial sample)
was underrepresented in responding participants (2.45%). Average age of the
initial selected participants was M = 27.65 (SD =8.95) which was similar to
the responding groups’ age of M = 26.3 (SD = 8.99) years. Approximately
57.95% of the initially sampled participants were in graduate and doctoral
programs comparable to 60% of respondents.
31
Table 1
Ethnicity of Research Participants
Participants Sampled Respondents
f % f %
American Indian or Pacific 9 0.45 1 0.41
Islander
Asian 191 9.55 41 16.73
Black 200 10.00 18 7.35
Hispanic 127 6.35 16 6.53
Other 317 15.85 6 2.45
Unknown 118 5.90 7 2.86
White 1038 51.90 156 63.67
Total 2000 100 245 100
Ethnicity for participants sampled was acquired by the school while ethnicity of
respondents was self-selected.
Table 2
Gender of Research Participants
f % f %
Female 1170 58.5 171 69.8
Male 825 41.25 69 28.2
Prefer not to say 5 0.25 1 .4
Missing 0 0 4 1.6
Total 2000 100 245 100
Table 3
Degree program
f % f %
Bachelor's degree 812 40.60 92 37.6
Graduate degree 1159 57.95 147 60.0
Non-degree 29 1.45 6 2.4
Total 2000 100 245 100
32
Procedure
The university administration assisted in selection through a stratified

random sample of 2,000 students who were invited to participate in the study
via email. Students were asked to complete a survey delivered via the
Qualtrics© platform with an option to enter a raffle for a new iPad© mini to
incentivize participation. Participants were provided information regarding
the survey and informed consent was obtained. Participants completed a
survey, which included the items from the Implicit Theories of Intelligence
Scale (ITI-General) (Dweck, 2000), the Revised Implicit Self-Theory Scale
(ITI-Self) (De Castella & Byrne, 2015), and the Life Orientation Test -
Revised (LOT-R) (Scheier et al., 1994). Directions indicated that responses
would remain anonymous and that there were no right or wrong answers.
Measures
General and self-theory mindset scales. Dweck’s Implicit Theories

of Intelligence Scale (ITI-General) (Dweck, 2000) is comprised of four items
that measure the fixed mindset factor and four that measure the growth
mindset factor. The scale is designed to measure an individual’s beliefs about
the ability to change intelligence with effort and experiences. De Castella and
Byrne (2015) developed the Revised Implicit Theories of Intelligence (Self-
Theory) Scale (ITI-Self) from the original ITI-General Scale (Dweck, 2000),
with all items reworded into first-person statements. The scale is designed to
measure very specifically an individual’s beliefs in his or her own ability to
change his or her own personal intelligence. Both scales have demonstrated
good internal consistency in past research (α = .87 for ITI-General and α =
.90 for ITI-Self-Theory).
Optimism. The Life Orientation Test – Revised (LOT-R) (Scheier et

al., 1994) is a 10-item instrument designed to measure dispositional optimism.
There are three items to measure optimism, three to measure pessimism, and
four filler items to detect faking positive. A psychometric evaluation of the
instrument (n = 2,055), yielded an α = .78 (Scheier et al., 1994). There is an
ongoing discussion in the literature regarding the unidimensionality (or lack
thereof) of optimism as measured on the LOT-R. While some investigations
suggest that the LOT-R supports the notion of optimism as a unidimensional
construct (on which optimism is experienced along a spectrum from low to
high), a substantial number of studies have found evidence for a two-factor
solution for LOT-R scores, indicating that optimism and pessimism are
distinct and dissociable constructs, both of which may be expressed at high or
33
low levels (e.g., Gustems-Carnicer et al., 2017; Ottati & Noronha, 2017;
Tuckwiller et al., 2017).
Scale scores. Participants selected their amount of endorsement for

items using a 6-point Likert response scale ranging from strongly disagree to
strongly agree without a neutral response. All three scales (ITI-General, ITI-
Self, and LOT-R) used this 6-point Likert response scale. Each aggregate
score was created by summing the scores of all items on each scale. The ITI
General and ITI Self each have a score range from 0 to 40. The LOT-R scores,
when assessed as a unidimensional construct, have a score range from 0 to
30, but when broken out into a two-factor model, the LOT-R optimism (LOT-
RO) subscale ranges 0 to 15 and pessimism subscale (LOT-RP) ranges from
0 to 15.
Table 4
Item Analysis for Scales
ITIG M SD r* ITIS M SD r* LOTR M SD r*
ITIG 3.95 1.20 0.78 ITIS 4.22 1.18 0.79 LOTR 3.66 1.24 0.57
1R 1R 1
ITIG 4.09 1.21 0.84 ITIS 4.23 1.16 0.90 LOTR 3.86 1.08 0.69
2R 2R 3R
ITIG 3.99 1.13 0.75 ITIS 4.40 1.11 0.84 LOTR 4.16 1.18 0.66
3 3 4
ITIG 4.12 1.13 0.85 ITIS 3.93 1.24 0.84 LOTR 3.89 1.18 0.76
4R 4R 7R
ITIG 3.82 1.09 0.80 ITIS 4.19 1.18 0.90 LOTR 4.00 1.17 0.71
5 5R 9R
ITIG 3.67 1.29 0.80 ITIS 4.17 1.13 0.82 LOTR 4.36 1.13 0.76
6R 6 10
ITIG 3.96 1.11 0.74 ITIS 4.22 1.08 0.86
7 7
ITIG 3.85 1.16 0.80 ITIS 4.32 1.11 0.82
8 8
Note: ITIG = Implicit Theories of Intelligence Scale (ITI-General), ITIS = Revised Implicit
Theories of Intelligence Scale (ITI-Self), LOTR = Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R).
Items are used for each scale are listed under the scale. R = reverse coded item. Total
N=245, r* = Item-Total Correlation.
Psychometric properties. We evaluated the quality of the measures

with classical measures. Internal consistency for all three scales was
satisfactory with ITI General Scale α = .943; ITI Self Scale α = .960; and the
LOT-R α = .882. The mean (M) and standard deviation (SD) of these items
can be found in Table 4. Item-total correlations r* were all strong positive
values significant on all scales at p <.001, indicating that participants who
34
endorsed agreement with an item had general agreement value for the overall
scale. Correlations among all scales/subscales (ITI General, ITI Self, and
LOT-R) were statistically significant. See Tables 5 and 6 for correlations. All
of the relationships were positive. Prior to analysis, all items endorsing fixed
mindset and pessimism were reverse coded so that higher scores on each of
the scales indicated higher self-reported levels on the applicable scale.
Table 5
Correlations Among Scales
ITIG ITIS LOTR
ITIG 1 0.881 0.279
ITIS 1 0.336
LOTR 1
Note: significant at the <.01 level. ITIG = Implicit Theories of Intelligence Scale (ITI-
General), ITIS = Revised Implicit Theories of Intelligence Scale (ITI-Self), LOTR = Life
Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R).
Table 6
Correlations Among Sub-scales
ITIG_G ITIS_G LOTR _OPT ITIG_F ITIS_F LOTR_PES
ITIG_G 1.00 0.84 0.26 0.79 0.73 0.25
ITIS_G 1.00 0.31 0.79 0.86 0.27
LOTR_OPT 1.00 0.17 0.26 0.66
ITIG_F 1.00 0.85 0.27
ITIS_F 1.00 0.32
LOTR_PES 1.00
Note: significant at the <.01 level. ITIG = Implicit Theories of Intelligence Scale (ITI-
Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R). G = growth mindset, F = fixed mindset, OPT =
optimism, PES = pessimism.
Analysis
All analysis was conducted using the SAS (2016) platform. Likert
data is often non-normal which leads to issues when attempting to use model
fit statistics to determine the quality of a model. To account for this issue
prevalent in scaled measures, we utilized a form of Maximum Likelihood
Estimation (MLE) in SAS proposed by Satorra and Bentler (1994) that uses a
sandwich-like formula to adjust chi-square and associated standard errors and
model fit indices (SAS, 2016). This estimation method, MLSB in PROC
CALIS, is appropriate for either normal or non-normal data and computes
35
model fit statistics based on scaled chi-squares more appropriate for this type
of data. Practitioners typically justify data as continuous, normal data;
however, this is often not the case and it can impact fit measures (e.g.,
comparative fit index (CFI); root mean square error of approximation
(RMSEA) in latent models) (Simsek & Noyan, 2012). The METHOD=MLSB
is appropriate for MLE when data are normal or non-normal (SAS, 2016).
To evaluate the best fitting models, we considered several fit indices
in addition to reporting χ2. The Akaike Information Criterion (AIC; Akaike,
1974) is used as a relative measure modifying model fit through complexity
of the model, where smaller values indicate better incremental fit.
Standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) and root mean square error
of approximation (RMSEA) are absolute fit measures, where values smaller
than 0.08 are desirable and below 0.05 indicate good fit. For comparative fit
index (CFI), the recommended cutoff value is .95 to be considered good fit
with values under .90 considered poor fit (Hu & Bentler, 1995, 1998, 1999;
Kline, 2011; MacCallum, Browne, & Sugawara, 1996). Further, as discussed
in the Methods section, we used the Satorra-Bentler adjustment in SAS (2016)
for fit indices under maximum likelihood with scaled model fit chi-square
statistics and sandwich-type standard error estimation (MLSB) to account for
the polytomous Likert scale data used in the analysis. Specifically, MLSB
adjusted chi-square, model fit indices, and standard errors used in this study
but not standardized root mean square residuals (SRMR).
In the measurement phase of our analysis, we used confirmatory
factor analysis (CFA) models to assess scales and subscales of our measures.
This stage of investigation served as a measurement phase to diagnose
satisfactory fit of the factors used and, if necessary, to correct any misfit issues
prior to our final stage of investigation. In the preliminary measurement
phase, we first explored the one, two, four and higher order factor models to
best explain the two mindset scales: ITI-General and ITI-Self. Next, we
explored the one- and two-factor model for LOT-R. Finally, in our full
measurement phase, we used six factors from the ITI-General, ITI-Self and
LOT-R in a CFA model to ensure the quality of the measurement model prior
to examining the structural portion of the model. Structural equation model
(SEM) using the functions for MLSB in SAS (2016) was used during the final
structural stage of analysis to compare best fitting models based on our
findings in stage two. In our two conceptual models described earlier we used
optimism factor(s) as exogenous unobserved parents related to endogenous
mindset factors and compared model fit (see Figures 1 and 2).
36
37
RESULTS
In the measurement phase, we first investigated the two mindset scales

(general and self-theory) together and compared them as a one, two, four and
a higher-order factor model. We also explored the two-factor LOT-R model
with three optimistic items on a separate factor from the three pessimistic
items. A summary covariance matrix used for this analysis is available in
Table 7. As presented earlier in the introduction, our explanation of the two
factors arising out of each mindset scale (that is, the growth mindset and the
fixed mindset) is that optimism drives responses on growth mindset items and
pessimism influences fixed mindset items. We explored two competing
models in the structural phase.
Preliminary Measurement Phase

Combined ITI-General and ITI-Self Mindset Scales. We used the
combined ITI-General and ITI-Self scales to explore a potential higher order
overarching mindset factor, as well as to explore evidence for clear self-theory
vs. general theory factors (e.g., we compared the one factor (overarching
mindset factor), two factor (only general and self-mindset factors), four factor
(general growth mindset, general fixed mindset, self-growth mindset, self-
fixed mindset factors), and a five-factor model (a general higher-order
mindset factor and four first order factors). The four-factor model fit the data
better than the other three models, χ2(98) = 161.84, AIC=237.85. For ITI-
General Scale and the ITI-Self-Theory Scale, the four factors had four items
measuring growth mindset and four measuring fixed mindset loaded on
separate factors from each of the two scales. Examination of these indices
showed acceptable model fit CFI = .99, RMSEA = .05, and SRMR = .03.
Although the higher order factor model did not fit as well as the four-factor
model, it did fit the data adequately according to the model fit indices in Table
8.
LOT-R. The two-factor model outperformed the one-factor model
with χ2(8) = 13.75. AIC =39.75 (see Table 7). Examination of these indices
showed reasonable model fit CFI = .99, RMSEA = .05, and SRMR = .03.
Full Measurement Model

The full CFA model in Figure 3 contains six factors: General Growth
Mindset (GGM) and General Fixed Mindset (GFM) from the ITI– General
scale; Self Growth Mindset (SGM) and Self Fixed Mindset (SFM) from the
ITI-Self, scale; Optimism and Pessimism from the LOT-R scale. Model fit
indices detailed in Table 7 showed sufficient evidence for use of this
measurement model in the structural phase of the study, χ2(194) = 297.14,
38
AIC =415.14 (see Table 7). Further examination of indices also showed
reasonable model fit CFI = .98, RMSEA = .047, and SRMR = .037.
Standardized and unstandardized loading are presented in Table 9.
Table 8
Fit Indices for Confirmatory Factor Models and Structural Equation Models
SB-Scaled
Model df AIC GFI CFI RMSEA SRMR
χ2
Confirmatory models for mindset (ITI-General & ITI-Self)
One- .103
370.744 104 434.744 .671 0.9351 .054
Factor .091, .114
Two- .087
292.673 103 358.673 .697 0.954 .049
Factor .077, .099
Four- .052
161.845 98 237.845 .826 0.985 .032
Factor .037, .066
Higher
order .061
190.888 100 262.887 .811 0.978 .041
five .045, .074
Factor
Confirmatory models for LOT-R
0.116
One- 0.93
38.407 9 62.407 0.942 0.08, 0.047
Factor 1
0.157
Two- 0.054
13.747 8 39.747 .977 0.989 0.027
Factor 0, 0.102
Full measurement model and structural models
Measur .047
ement 297.141 194 415.141 .834 .979 (0.36, .037
Model 0.057)
Structur .046
al 300.803 198 410.803 .833 .979 (0.035, .039
Model 1 0.056)
Structur .047
al 297.141 194 415.141 .834 .979 (0.036, .037
Model 2 0.057)
Note: The preliminary four confirmatory factor models for mindset (subheading 1), the two
confirmatory factor models for LOTR (subheading 2), the full confirmatory factor model for
the measurement phase and the two conceptual structural models from the structural phase
(subheading 3) of the investigation are all presented here. SB-Scaled χ2 = Satorra-Bentler
adjusted chi-square, df = degrees of freedom, AIC = Akaike Information Criteria, GFI =
Goodness of fit index, CFI = comparative fit index, RMSEA = root mean square error of
approximation with 90% confidence intervals, SRMR = standardized root mean square
residual.
39
40
Table 9
Full Measurement Model: Unstandardized and Standardized Effects
Path(s) Unstandardized Standardized S.E. P
GFM ===> ITIG1R 1 0.855 0.042 <.001
GFM ===> ITIG2R 1.079 0.916 0.015 <.001
GFM ===> ITIG4R 0.998 0.904 0.019 <.001
GFM ===> ITIG6R 1.053 0.836 0.026 <.001
GGM ===> ITIG3 1 0.796 0.039 <.001
GGM ===> ITIG5 1.046 0.869 0.023 <.001
GGM ===> ITIG7 1.015 0.823 0.038 <.001
GGM ===> ITIG8 1.106 0.858 0.022 <.001
OPT ===> LOTR1 1 0.658 0.049 <.001
OPT ===> LOTR4 1.077 0.744 0.039 <.001
OPT ===> LOTR10 1.161 0.841 0.036 <.001
PES ===> LOTR3R 1 0.793 0.033 <.001
PES ===> LOTR7R 1.22 0.886 0.025 <.001
PES ===> LOTR9R 1.067 0.779 0.044 <.001
SFM ===> ITIS1R 1 0.825 0.055 <.001
SFM ===> ITIS2R 1.107 0.933 0.018 <.001
SFM ===> ITIS4R 1.133 0.89 0.016 <.001
SFM ===> ITIS5R 1.137 0.939 0.017 <.001
SGM ===> ITIS3 1 0.866 0.029 <.001
SGM ===> ITIS6 1.028 0.872 0.027 <.001
SGM ===> ITIS7 1.015 0.898 0.029 <.001
SGM ===> ITIS8 1.016 0.875 0.023 <.001
GFM <==> GGM 0.789 0.853 0.029 <.001
GFM <==> SFM 0.901 0.900 0.018 <.001
GGM <==> SFM 0.687 0.780 0.034 <.001
GFM <==> SGM 0.836 0.852 0.023 <.001
GGM <==> SGM 0.786 0.909 0.018 <.001
SFM <==> SGM 0.860 0.920 0.026 <.001
OPT <==> GFM 0.170 0.203 0.070 .004
OPT <==> GGM 0.225 0.306 0.073 <.001
OPT <==> SFM 0.226 0.284 0.067 <.001
OPT <==> SGM 0.271 0.347 0.070 <.001
PES <==> GFM 0.271 0.309 0.067 <.001
41
PES <==> GGM 0.235 0.305 0.069 <.001
PES <==> SFM 0.310 0.371 0.060 <.001
PES <==> SGM 0.258 0.315 0.064 <.001
PES <==> OPT 0.598 0.855 0.036 <.001
Note: Factors are labeled: GGM= General Growth Mindset, SGM= Self Growth Mindset,
GFM= General Fixed Mindset, SFM= Self Fixed Mindset, OPT= Optimism,
PES=Pessimism. Items are labeled: ITIG = Implicit Theories of Intelligence Scale (ITI-
Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R). R=reverse coded item. R=reverse coded. S.E. is the
standard error. P is significance level.
Structural Phase
Model 1 allowed direct paths from optimistic paths to growth mindset
factors and pessimistic paths to fixed mindset factors (both general and self),
permitting four paths total. This model represented our theoretically derived
uncrossed model. Model 2 permitted paths from optimism and pessimism to
all four factors, eight paths total, and is a more general, fully crossed model
for nesting purposes. This crossed model included all of the pathways from
model 1 plus pathways from optimism to fixed mindset factors and pessimism
to growth mindset factors. In both models, the six factors (optimism,
pessimism, general growth mindset, self-theory growth mindset, general fixed
mindset, and self-theory fixed mindset) were scaled by fixing the variance to
1. Overall, models 1 and 2 had very similar fit. We selected the simple model
1 as having better data-model fit for several reasons. The chi-square
difference test for nested models is 297.141-300.803 = 3.662 (4) which is not
significant, meaning there is no significant improvement to fit the more
complex model. As can be seen in Table 7 for model 1, AIC = 410.80 has
better comparative fit than model 2 AIC=415.14. Models were not re-
specified. Data-model fit is presented in Table 7 using the same indices as
used in measurement stage: SB-Scaled χ2, AIC, GFI, CFI, RMSEA, and
SRMR. All data-model fit indices were similar, leading us to be more inclined
to consider parsimony for the models.
The standardized and unstandardized parameter estimates for model
1 and model 2 can be found in Tables 10 and 11, respectively. The final
theoretically driven structural model 1 and competing structural model 2 can
be found in the path diagrams in Figures 4 and 5 to help explain the effects of
the model. When examining standardized parameter estimates for measured
indicators on the latent factors in both models, all indicators were significant
at p <.001. Further, all pathways were significant for model 1, the uncrossed
model. In model 2, there were nonsignificant pathways for six out of the eight
effects. The direct effects in model 2 that were nonsignificant between factors
42
were helpful in determining which model to choose beyond examination of
fit indices. All crossed relationships were nonsignificant, meaning that when
optimism was used to predict fixed mindset factors and pessimism was used
to predict growth mindset factors, all four of these pathways were
nonsignificant. Additionally, the pathways in model 2 from optimism to both
growth mindset factors were nonsignificant. Although nonsignificant, the
pathways from optimism to fixed mindset factors were negative.
Table 10
Structural Model 1: Unstandardized and Standardized Effects
GFM ===> ITIG1R 1 0.854 0.042 <.001
GFM ===> ITIG2R 1.080 0.916 0.015 <.001
GFM ===> ITIG4R 1.000 0.906 0.019 <.001
GFM ===> ITIG6R 1.054 0.837 0.025 <.001
GGM ===> ITIG3 1 0.798 0.039 <.001
GGM ===> ITIG5 1.046 0.871 0.023 <.001
GGM ===> ITIG7 1.017 0.826 0.037 <.001
GGM ===> ITIG8 1.107 0.860 0.022 <.001
OPT ===> LOTR1 1 0.657 0.049 <.001
OPT ===> LOTR4 1.084 0.748 0.039 <.001
OPT ===> LOTR10 1.162 0.841 0.037 <.001
PES ===> LOTR3R 1 0.795 0.033 <.001
PES ===> LOTR7R 1.218 0.887 0.026 <.001
PES ===> LOTR9R 1.064 0.779 0.043 <.001
SFM ===> ITIS1R 1 0.826 0.054 <.001
SFM ===> ITIS2R 1.107 0.934 0.018 <.001
SFM ===> ITIS4R 1.133 0.890 0.016 <.001
SFM ===> ITIS5R 1.137 0.939 0.017 <.001
SGM ===> ITIS3 1 0.868 0.028 <.001
SGM ===> ITIS6 1.027 0.874 0.026 <.001
SGM ===> ITIS7 1.015 0.900 0.029 <.001
SGM ===> ITIS8 1.016 0.877 0.023 <.001
GFM <==> GGM 0.715 0.765 0.046 <.001
GFM <==> SFM 0.791 0.786 0.040 <.001
GGM <==> SFM 0.597 0.668 0.044 <.001
GFM <==> SGM 0.755 0.761 0.043 <.001
43
GGM <==> SGM 0.685 0.778 0.044 <.001
SFM <==> SGM 0.760 0.800 0.045 <.001
OPT <==> PES 0.594 0.848 0.034 <.001
OPT ===> GGM 0.389 0.349 0.064 <.001
OPT ===> SGM 0.450 0.379 0.059 <.001
PES ===> GFM 0.366 0.306 0.063 <.001
PES ===> SFM 0.431 0.376 0.053 <.001
GFM= General Fixed Mindset, SFM= Self Fixed Mindset, OPT= Optimism,
PES=Pessimism. Items are labeled: ITIG = Implicit Theories of Intelligence Scale (ITI-
Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R). R=reverse coded item. R=reverse coded. S.E. is the
standard error. P is significance level.
Table 11
Structural Model 2: Unstandardized and Standardized Effects
GFM ===> ITIG1R 1.000 0.861 0.031 <.001
GFM ===> ITIG2R 1.109 0.925 0.013 <.001
GFM ===> ITIG4R 1.027 0.915 0.016 <.001
GFM ===> ITIG6R 1.084 0.852 0.022 <.001
GGM ===> ITIG3 1.000 0.839 0.025 <.001
GGM ===> ITIG5 0.977 0.887 0.019 <.001
GGM ===> ITIG7 0.948 0.844 0.033 <.001
GGM ===> ITIG8 1.032 0.875 0.018 <.001
OPT ===> LOTR1 1.000 0.733 0.021 <.001
OPT ===> LOTR4 0.964 0.773 0.031 <.001
OPT ===> LOTR10 1.037 0.86 0.029 <.001
LOTR3
PES ===> 1.000 0.839 0.017 <.001
R
LOTR7
PES ===> 1.144 0.902 0.02 <.001
R
LOTR9
PES ===> 0.999 0.805 0.036 <.001
R
SFM ===> ITIS1R 1.000 0.85 0.038 <.001
SFM ===> ITIS2R 1.077 0.942 0.015 <.001
SFM ===> ITIS4R 1.102 0.902 0.013 <.001
SFM ===> ITIS5R 1.105 0.946 0.015 <.001
SGM ===> ITIS3 1.000 0.888 0.021 <.001
44
SGM ===> ITIS6 1.008 0.889 0.023 <.001
SGM ===> ITIS7 0.995 0.912 0.025 <.001
SGM ===> ITIS8 0.996 0.892 0.019 <.001
GFM <==> GGM 0.878 0.787 0.034 <.001
GFM <==> SFM 0.904 0.789 0.037 <.001
GGM <==> SFM 0.795 0.700 0.031 <.001
GFM <==> SGM 0.891 0.789 0.033 <.001
GGM <==> SGM 0.914 0.816 0.032 <.001
SFM <==> SGM 0.943 0.821 0.037 <.001
OPT <==> PES 0.875 0.875 0.02837 <.001
OPT ===> GGM 0.150 0.142 0.175 0.415
OPT ===> SGM 0.282 0.265 0.161 0.100
OPT ===> GFM -0.267 -0.252 0.178 0.158
OPT ===> SFM -0.142 -0.132 0.174 0.450
PES ===> GFM 0.564 0.532 0.171 0.002
PES ===> SFM 0.524 0.485 0.164 0.003
PES ===> GGM 0.186 0.177 0.171 0.299
PES ===> SGM 0.091 0.086 0.158 0.586
GFM= General Fixed Mindset, SFM= Self Fixed Mindset, OPT= Optimism, PES=Pessimism.
Items are labeled: ITIG = Implicit Theories of Intelligence Scale (ITI-General), ITIS = Revised
Implicit Theories of Intelligence Scale (ITI-Self), LOTR = Life Orientation Test-Revised
(LOT-R). R=reverse coded item. R=reverse coded. S.E. is the standard error. P is significance
level.
We note that the full measurement model used in phase one and
structural model 2 are equivalent models, so the overall model fit is identical.
There are numerous equivalent models we could have fit, but model 2 was
considered because of its relationship to model 1 and its inclusion of crossed
paths. Although overall model fit was equivalent for the full measurement
model and model 2, there were meaningful differences in the fit of pathway.
Model 2 was intended to provide explanation using pathways instead of
correlations and serves as a theoretical comparison to model 1, not just an
improvement over the fit of measurement model. All correlations among
factors were significant in the measurement model but only six of the eight
direct paths that replaced correlations in model 2 were significant in structural
model 2.
45
46
47
These pilot data represent the first empirical evidence (to our knowledge) that
optimism and pessimism influence factors implicated in growth and fixed
mindset. These findings are critical to illuminate the complex contributing
factors in the development of mindset, as well as targets for potential
intervention. It may be that interventions designed to increase growth mindset
(e.g., Paunesku et al., 2015) would have greater effects if they were targeted
toward increasing optimism, as optimism impacts growth mindset. There is
distinct research-supported evidence that optimism is a malleable trait (e.g.,
Peters, Flink, Boersman, & Linton, 2010), and the current findings provide a
research-based rationale (in addition to a theoretical one) for the potential of
changing mindset via changing optimism. It may be that optimism
interventions are as effective or more effective than current mindset
interventions, or perhaps that the addition of optimism interventions to current
mindset interventions may increase the effects on target outcomes of mindset,
academic achievement, motivation, etc.
Limitations
We are cautious in jumping from a mathematical indication of
causality or direct pathway relationships in a path model to a logical one.
Several limitations should be noted before we proclaim a robust causative
relationship between optimism and mindset. Our data were collected at one
university via a self-report survey. The sample size, although a reasonable
size for pilot psychological research and supported by good measurement
within each scale, had a low response rate. Self-selection bias could impact
the study beyond measurement issues. It would be interesting to observe if
these findings held over several trials. The findings should be explored in
other populations (e.g., secondary students) with survey data as well as other
indicators for the underlying factors when possible. It could also be the case
that additional latent factor(s) exist that are currently undetected but that
underlie all of the constructs in our model and would require further
investigation to uncover. Although our data are not perfect, our findings
warrant additional substantiation and investigation.
Scales, Factors and Models

Scales. All three scales (LOT-R, ITI-General and ITI-Self)
demonstrated excellent performance on internal consistency for all measures.
Further exploration of scales and subscales showed means (endorsement or
average scores) with standard deviations that were comparable. Items
individually discriminated well as seen by correlation of items with total
48
scores. The items as univariate measures of their individual scales performed
as expected and were quality indicators for underlying factors. These data
indicate that all of these scales performed well with our university student
sample, and this provides the first data validating the use of the ITI-Self with
college students.
Evidence for self-theory of intelligence factor. Our results provide

support for findings by De Castella and Byrne (2015), suggesting that there is
a self-growth mindset factor and a self-fixed mindset factor, both of which
are distinct from the general growth and fixed mindset factors. This finding
has important implications for researchers and interventionists as they
develop assessments of mindset to measure baseline self-mindset and
responses to interventions. Prior mindset research has provided clear evidence
that general implicit theories of intelligence are linked to academic
achievement and motivation, advanced course enrollment and higher grades
(Blackwell et al., 2007; Paunesku et al., 2015). However, De Castella and
Byrne (2015) found that a student’s self-theory mindset was even more
predictive of achievement and motivation than was their general mindset, so
it will be important for researchers and practitioners to consider the use of the
ITI-Self when one’s self-theory and personal achievement and motivation are
variables of interest. Thus, in first year programs, student affairs initiatives,
or other similar programmatic university-based efforts, the ITI-Self is a
reliable way in which to measure university students’ orientations toward
their own personal growth or fixed mindsets.
Four-factor model of mindset. The confirmatory models displayed

superior model fit for the four-factor model for all 16 mindset items; this
model had much better fit than the higher-order model (with four factors plus
a general higher order mindset factor). That is, in this study we found evidence
of four distinct mindset orientations: general growth, general fixed, self-
growth, and self-fixed mindsets. This supports findings by De Castella and
Byrne (2015) in which they found small but statistically significant
differences on the original ITI Scale vs. the Revised ITI scale, indicating that
students more strongly endorsed a fixed mindset when considering the
malleability of others’ intelligence as compared to the malleability of their
own intelligence (d=.17). However, the higher order one factor model -
suggesting a singular mindset orientation - may still hold interest for future
research, given it had reasonable model fit. Future modeling research may
investigate the utility of conceptualizing “mindset” as a continuum from very
fixed to highly growth oriented.
49
Model fit. It is also worth noting here that utilizing methods such as
those in MLSB, when raw data are available, that account for impacts of
model fit measures can improve decisions around models. For example, De
Castella and Byrne’s (2015) analyses and discussion indicated that the
Revised ITI scale is useful. However, we wanted to evaluate the indicators,
considering their model fit was better for the two-factor model, but RMSEA
criteria of .08 was only met for the two-factor model on the Revised ITI scale,
and not met for the original ITI scale. This did not cause us to question if the
competing two factor model was superior; it clearly was the more appropriate
model based on all incremental model fit indices. What we did question,
however, was the absolute measure of good fit since RMSEA was in a range
that was neither good nor bad. Because of this we were unable to assert that
there was relatively good fit between the hypothesized model and the
observed data (Hu & Bentler, 1999). Therefore, although there was evidence
that the scale was useful, the model fit warranted additional evaluation
utilizing the methods we used in the present study. Practitioners often find
themselves with polytomous ordinal data that could be analyzed with Satorra
and Bentler (1994) adjustments, but obviously other issues such as missing
data may impact the decision of which estimation method to use.
Additionally, our models accounted for non-normality which is too
commonly ignored in Likert and polytomous scaling data. This oversight
often leaves researchers with interesting models that do not have good data-
model fit according to indices. Such was the case with De Castella and Byrne
(2015) where RMSEA was not below .08 for any model. However, if one is
able to correctly account for this issue in the data with adjustments such as
those proposed by Satorra and Bentler (1994), we are likely to find that this
and many other models have adequate data-model fit. In many cases,
adjustments are not possible because the item level data is required, not just
the covariance matrix, and missing data may require full information
maximum likelihood estimation. It is particularly important to consider the
use of these advanced analyses in the measurement of psychological data to
provide a more accurate and nuanced understanding of psychological
constructs and their measurement.
Structure of Optimism and Growth Mindset

Finally, our piloted structural model using optimism and pessimism
as separate factors had better fit for parsimony when pathways were permitted
only between optimism to growth mindset factors and pessimism to fixed
mindset factors. This model may help to explain the two factors in each
mindset scale. Growth mindset is driven by an underlying optimistic stance,
and fixed mindset is influenced by a pessimistic one. The fully crossed model
50
(which allowed paths from optimism and pessimism to all of the growth and
fixed items) fit as well as the uncrossed model, but was not an improvement
on model fit indices, and with closer inspection of the pathways it became
clear why that was the case. The crossed paths of optimism to fixed mindset
and pessimism to growth mindset were not statistically significant, meaning
those paths could be removed from the model. In removing those paths, it
reduced us to Model 1, our original theoretically driven uncrossed model.
This suggests not only that optimism and pessimism are clearly dissociable
constructs, but that each provides a unique contribution to growth and fixed
mindsets. Given the limitations of this pilot study, we do not discuss
relationships as causal and caution on generalizing these findings until
additional studies have been conducted.
IMPLICATIONS
Future Research
The findings of the present study establish a relationship in our data
from optimism and pessimism to growth and fixed factors, respectively.
Students demonstrate an increase in growth mindset when they have higher
levels of optimism, and increased fixed mindset when they demonstrate
higher levels of pessimism. The crossed effect was not significant, but may
warrant additional consideration. For example, in model 2, there may well be
crossed effects from optimism to fixed mindset and pessimism to growth
mindset which may be potentially detected in a more powerful study. Future
research will clarify these relationships.
Our results could suggest particular intervention targets to either
increase growth mindset or decrease fixed mindset. Perhaps rather than or in
addition to intervening to teach growth mindset, interventions should also be
explicitly targeting a reduction in pessimistic thinking to weaken fixed
mindset orientations and targeting improved optimistic thinking to build
growth mindset. Additional research with adjusted mindset intervention
targets will help clarify the effect magnitude of optimism and pessimism on
mindsets.
Our results and theoretical framework indicate the use of two factors
for each scale. We should caution it is possible that even though our model
fit indicated two distinct factors for each scale that one factor model could
still be appropriate. In future research we intend to explore tests of parallelism
to determine if factors are distinct or just artifacts based on positively and
negatively worded items. Negatively worded items can give rise to potential
artifacts and bias in the data but also can indicate actual distinct factors
regardless of the researcher’s intent. However, even if some method or artifact
51
factors are present within a scale, the main focus of our pilot research provides
the first starting point for relationships among mindset factors and
optimism/pessimism.
Furthermore, the effects of mindset interventions can be short-lived
and mindsets may return to pre-intervention levels in a matter of weeks (see
Orosz, Péter-Szarka, Bőthe, Tóth-Király, & Berger, 2017). Would
intervening on optimism as a driver of mindset result in more permanent and
longer-lasting effects? Future research is needed to clarify this potential
relationship. Finally, when interventions are implemented and multiple
samples can be collected, causality may be explored for the types of models
used in this study as well as the reversed causality model(s) where pathways
are turned around and mindset predicts optimism and pessimism. This type of
investigation would help us understand the flow of relationships in more
detail.
Conclusion
In conceptualizing this study, we were curious to understand how

one’s optimism and/or pessimism – that is one’s expectation of positive or
negative future experiences – might shape his or her mindset toward
expecting to improve intelligence (an optimistic expectation) or being unable
to improve intelligence regardless of effort (a pessimistic expectation). We
speculated that optimism is a broader expectation than mindset, and that this
expectation of positive or negative future events might be a higher order factor
in shaping one’s mindset expectations. Thus, to explore this hypothesis, we
modeled the relationship between optimism (and pessimism when we found
evidence of the two-factor model) and fixed and growth mindsets. We found
clear evidence that optimism and pessimism are implicated in growth and
fixed mindset.
The concept of growth mindset has become a central focus in
education research, and a number of interventions and programs have been
developed to help educators teach growth mindset to students. The findings
of the present study suggest that optimism interventions may well be an
important target for these types of nonacademic intervention programs.
Optimism is malleable and has been implicated in overall better school
adjustment. This study offers additional evidence of its importance to
educational outcomes since our results suggest a strong relationship between
optimism and mindset.
52
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WILLIAM R. DARDICK, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Educational Research

in the Assessment, Testing, and Measurement program, George Washington
University, Washington, DC, USA. His major research interests include understating
model fit across latent, emergent and manifest models, the novel uses of assessment
and measurement theory, and simulation methods.
E-mail: wdardick@email.gwu.edu
ELIZABETH D. TUCKWILLER, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Special

Education and Disability Studies, George Washington University, Washington, DC,
USA. Her major research interests include the measurement and role of nonacademic
variables in teaching and learning, and the structure and facilitation of educational
well-being. E-mail: btuckwiller@email.gwu.edu
Manuscript submitted: December 26, 2018

Manuscript revised: May 1, 2019
Accepted for publication: July 8, 2019
56
Volume 8, Issue 2 (2019), pp. 57-73

Volunteerism is Associated with Improved Soft

Skills of Marine Engineering Students
in the Philippines
Ian I. Llenares
National University, Philippines
Custer C. Deocaris
Technological Institute of the Philippines, Philippines
Philippine Nuclear Research Institute, Philippines
ABSTRACT
We assessed the impact on soft skills in among 60 marine engineering
students after completing a 36-month long community service program. A
Soft Skills-Graduate Attribute Scale was developed to measure the following
outcomes, namely, professional competence, critical thinking skills,
communication skills, lifelong learning, social and ethical responsibility,
productivity, and interpersonal skills. Our results show that the students
who participated regularly in volunteer activities possess significantly
higher measures of graduate attributes relating to professional competence,
communication skills, and social and ethical responsibility compared to
non-regular and first-time volunteers. These specific soft skills were aligned
with the expected outcomes based on the program design of the volunteer
activities. Our study adds to the growing literature on the value of service-
learning programs in higher education as community-oriented programs
can potentially result in improving soft skills and cross-cultural
competencies of students, especially in the technical fields.
Keywords: volunteerism, soft-skills, community outreach, positive psychology
- 57 -
BACKGROUND
Volunteerism is an initiative or action intended to help another person,

group or organization by an individual who willingly and non-obligatorily
employs personal time, resources, and skills without expecting any benefit
in return (Penner 2004; United Nations Volunteer, 2015). Monetary reward
is not a principal motivating factor for this pro-social behavior
(Volunteering Australia, 2015). Volunteerism also plays significant role in
society by enhancing employability of marginalized people, strengthening
social connectivity, delivering excellent goods and public services, and
supporting youth education (Wu, 2011).
For students, volunteerism has been recognized to impact on their
sense of responsibility and citizenship. Students who volunteer regularly are
more likely to engage in varied political behaviors, such as voting and
working for political campaigns in later life (Youniss et al. 1999; Wilson &
Musick 1999). They participate more often in community service activities
(Astin & Astin 2000) and tend to choose service-oriented professions, such
as teaching, after graduation (Avalos et al. 1999). Some investigators also
noted that volunteerism improves academic performance (Astin & Sax
1998), develops leadership potential (Astin & Astin 2000), boosts self-
confidence (Astin et al. 2000), and expands career paths and personal
wellbeing (Wu, 2011; Nazroo and Matthews, 2012).
A strategy to promote school volunteerism in higher education is via
service-learning programs, or the merging of community service with
pedagogy and research (Levesque-Bristol et al. 2010; Clinton & Thomas
2011; Eyler 2002; Govekar & Govekar 2008; Bringle & Hatcher 2000;
Bourner & Millican 2011; Gullatt & Jan 2003; Kielsmeier et al. 2004). In
the United States, higher education institutions (HEIs) actively motivate
students to join volunteer service by incorporating volunteerism into the
curriculum and general education courses (Cohen & Kinsey 1994; Markus
et al. 1993). Volunteer activity through service-learning programs are also
popular in Europe and in Asia (Bosanquet et al. 2007, 2012; Clinton and
Thomas 2011; McCarthy et al., 2005).
While several publications cite the benefits of volunteerism to
students, in the era of outcomes-based education, its impact on student
competencies has not been thoroughly explored, especially in the
Philippines. Here, we analyze the effects of volunteerism on some soft
skills on a group of marine engineering students enrolled in a private HEI
that pioneered outcomes-based education in the Philippines (Llanes, 2008).
- 58 -
While engineering schools emphasize technical knowledge grounded on
science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), we are aware
that 21st century engineers are also expected to cultivate a wide range of
soft skills and competencies useful in society and the workplace
(Abdulwahed et al. 2013). The soft skills assessed in this investigation are
the institutional learning outcomes (ILOs) of the private HEI, namely,
professional competence, critical thinking skills, communication skills,
lifelong learning, social and ethical responsibility, productivity, and
interpersonal skills.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
An approach to enhance student learning experience while complementing

soft skills development is through direct hands-on experiential activities
aimed at solving real-world problems (Hagan, 2012; Kolb & Kolb, 2009).
With its convergence with the various learnings derived from life experience
and formal education, a student may experience what is deemed as a holistic
education (Fry, Ketteridge, & Marshall, 2009; Kolb & Kolb, 2009). Smith
(2001) suggests that experiential learning can also provide added
opportunities to observe societal problems, form abstract concepts, and
validate theoretical knowledge. As a modality for promoting meaningful
and conscious personal learning, the following are the basic assumptions of
an experiential education: a) the acquisition of knowledge is a process in
itself; b) it is a holistic process of adaptation resulting from synergetic
interactions between the person and the environment; and c) it creates new
knowledge (Kolb & Kolb, 2009). According to Kolb (1984), experiential
learning occurs in 4 stages: Stage 1, formation of experience; Stage 2,
reflective observation of the situation; Stage 3, abstract conceptualization of
the phenomenon; and Stage 4, active experimentation. It is noteworthy that
theory and practice are both conceptualized and re-positioned to deepen a
student’s understanding of the world (Kolb & Fry, 1975). These features
make experiential learning transformative because it shapes the
understanding and interpretation of theories, beliefs, values, and practices of
a person (Ambrose et al., 2010; Cooper, Orrell, & Bowden, 2010).
Given the framework on experiential learning, we are interested to
study the phenomenon through the lens of volunteerism as its shapes the soft
skills of students in highly technical careers involving exposure to multi-
cultural environments of the workplace, such as seafaring.
- 59 -
RESEARCH METHOD
Participants
The study employs a descriptive survey research design involving
60 college students, aged 16-24 years old, enrolled under the Bachelor of
Science in Marine Engineering program during the 2nd Semester, School
Year 2015-2016 in a private HEI in Quezon City, Philippines. The
respondents were purposively selected based on their regularity of
participation in 14 community service engagements from 2013-2015 (see
Table I).
Survey Instrument
Demographic questionnaire. While maintaining respondent’s
anonymity, the researchers gathered data on gender, age, grade point
average (GPA), parents' education, and combined family monthly income.
Instrument. The Soft Skills-Graduate Attribute Scale (SS-GAS)
(Cronbach α = 0.77) was used to assess student opinion on the attainment of
the ILOs described in Table II. We previously piloted the instrument with
56 college students from architecture, education, and civil engineering
programs in the same school. The questionnaire uses a 7-point Likert scale
from 1 (‘strongly disagree’) to 7 (‘strongly agree') on each graduate
attribute. SS-GAS consists of 27 items from the 7 ILLOs: professional
competence (4 items) (Cronbach α = 0.92), critical thinking skills (5 items)
(Cronbach α = 0.82), communication skills (3 items) (Cronbach α = 0.78),
lifelong learning (4 items) (Cronbach α = 0.70), social and ethical
responsibility (4 items) (Cronbach α = 0.85), productivity (3 items)
(Cronbach α = 0.76), and interpersonal skills (4 items) (Cronbach α = 0.86).
Each participant took an average of 10 minutes to accomplish the
questionnaire.
To interpret the results, an anchor-based approach, i.e., a criterion is
applied to define a substantial change, was utilized. Here, the computed
mean score falling within the prescribed range of 1.00-1.86 was categorized
as 'very low'; 1.87-2.72 as, 'low'; 2.73-3.58, 'below average'; 3.59-4.44,
'average'; 4.45-5.30, 'above average'; 5.31-6.16, 'high'; and 6.17 – 7.00 as
'very high'. A major limitation of the anchor-based approach is that it does
not take measurement precision into account (Lydick and Epstein, 1993).
Data Gathering Procedure

Pen-and-paper survey forms were given to the respondents to obtain
data on demographics and soft skills. The respondents were provided with
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Table I
The community engagement activities undertaken by the respondents.

Institutions with labelled asterisk are national government agencies. The
different disciplinary programs partnered with the marine engineering program
for specific community activities are indicated.
Collaborating Expected Soft Skills

Activity Site
Departments/Institutions or Outcomes
Freedom Local Government Units Social and ethical

International Island, (LGUs); Department of responsibility;
coastal clean-up Paranaque Environment and Natural Interpersonal skill;
City Resources (DENR)* Communication skill
Professional competence;
Social and ethical
Basic welding responsibility;
On-campus LGUs
training Interpersonal skill;
Communication skill
Development of Interpersonal skill;
multi-sensor Communication skill;
On-campus Productivity;
floating garbage
disposal system Social and ethical
responsibility
Interpersonal skill;
Development of Communication skill;
Electrical engineering
portable solar On-campus Productivity;
program
lamps Social and ethical
responsibility
Social and ethical

Estero (drainage) Quezon responsibility;
LGUs Interpersonal skill;
clean-up drive City
Communication skill
Information technology, Communication skills;
Tree planting,
education and electrical Social and ethical
literacy, and Bulacan
engineering programs; responsibility;
numeracy projects
DENR* Interpersonal
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Freedom Social and ethical
Island, responsibility;
Mangrove planting
Paranaque Interpersonal skill;
City Communication skill

Coastal clean-up

International Island, responsibility;
DENR*
coastal clean-up Paranaque Interpersonal skill;
Architecture, civil
Social and ethical
engineering, electrical
Tanza, responsibility;
House painting engineering, business
Cavite Interpersonal skill;
education programs; Habitat
Communication skill
for Humanity (NGO)
Social and ethical

Brigada Eskwela Quezon Department of Education responsibility;
literacy program City (DepEd)* Interpersonal skill;
Communication skill

Coastal clean-up
Social and ethical

responsibility;
Tree planting Bulacan DENR*
Interpersonal skill;
Communication skill
Social and ethical

Relief operation
DSWD Department of Social responsibility;
after Typhoon
Center, Welfare and Development Interpersonal skill;
Haiyan
Pasay City (DSWD)* Communication skill
the following information about the survey: a) the goal of the study, b)
absence of monetary incentive to participate, c) the potential societal
benefits of the research, and d) option to withdraw from the study at any
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point in time. To ensure the confidentiality, individual folders were provided
to the respondents to insert the completed survey sheets prior to submission.
The respondents were also told that their names and other identifiers were
not required to be written on the answer sheet. The respondents were also
reminded that there were no correct or wrong answers, not to leave any
items unanswered and they can take their time in answering the survey
questions. The study protocol was reviewed by the Research and
Development Management Office (RDMO) of the school.
Data Analysis
Shapiro-Wilk test was used to test normality of the data. Since our
data was found to be non-normally distributed, which implies that the mean
values are sensitive to outliers, we assigned the median as the measure of
central tendency (Field, 2013). Kruskal-Wallis H test, a non-parametric test,
was used to determine the effects of volunteerism on the soft skills with p <
0.05 as being significant (Field, 2013). Cohen’s d for non-parametric data
was computed to report the effect size (Lenhard & Lenhard, 2016).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A focus of youth volunteerism is around educational institutions, especially

in the higher education sector. Despite the popularity of student
volunteerism, its impact on student competencies is relatively under-
researched in the Philippines (Llenares & Deocaris 2018; Llenares &
Deocaris 2015; Santillan 2011; Cardenas et al. 2009; Lalap et al. 2013). This
observation is surprising given that community service is a mandatory
requirement in Philippine higher education delivered through the National
Service Training Program (or NSTP). NSTP is a 6-unit credit course
offered for 2 semesters. During the 1st semester, NSTP comprises of
lectures on humanistic self-development, Filipino characteristics and its
value system, disaster management, and various current national issues.
Formal community immersion programs are performed during the 2nd
semester. It should be noted that NSTP is a mandated by a national law,
Republic Act #9163 (or the NSTP Act of 2001).
While the body of literature on curricular benefits of volunteerism
has been expanding (Astin & Sax, 1998; Astin et al. 2000; Avalos et al.
1999), there is a growing need to examine the impact of volunteerism
among technical students, especially in the context of molding these
graduates to acquire a fuller skill set aligned with industry needs. The term
“soft skills” are variably denoted as ILOs, “key competencies,” “generic
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skills,” “generic competencies,” or “employability skills.” These allied skill
sets are considered vital to enhance technical competency in a way which
can be applied to a broader aspect of life and work (Rychen & Salganik
2003; Abdulwahed et al. 2013; Acomi & Acomi, 2016).
How then does volunteerism impact of the soft skills of our 21st-
century engineers? In this study, we focused on marine engineering students
because the Philippines is the leading source of seafaring labor in the world.
Filipinos comprise over 20% of the total shipboard workforce in
international trading fleets (Leggate 2004; Corbett & Winebrake, 2008).
Marine engineers are involved with the design, development, building,
installation, inspection, and maintenance of equipment and parts that make
boats and other maritime vessels (Taylor, 1996). With the international
dispersion of marine engineers, the students are expected to operate within
heightened cross-cultural global cooperation requiring intercultural
competencies and soft skills.
Table II.
Operational definitions of the type of volunteer engagement and soft skills. Examples of
statements from the instrument are shown.
Terms Definitions
Regular Those who consistently provide time, effort and skills to support civic
volunteers activities, such as initiating community outreach planning, organizing
fellow volunteers and implementing volunteer activities
Non-regular Those who volunteer whenever they are free from their academic
volunteers obligations, for example, during the semestral break
First-timer Those who have volunteered before the survey yet only within the
volunteers context of the mandatory school-based service program
Graduate Refers to the soft skills expected to develop among students across
Attributes academic programs when they graduate
Professional Refers to the understanding and mastery of fundamental knowledge

Competence and skills required for effective professional practice in the field of
specialization
“I am updated on the major developments in the professional or
discipline-related program."
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Critical Refers to critical and creative thinking in providing solutions to
Thinking and discipline-related problems
Problem- “I analyze problems and issues and obtains relevant data before
Solving Skills making decisions."
Communication Refers to effective communication skills, both orally and writing,

Skills using the English language
“I can communicate my ideas clearly, convincingly, and in an
organized manner."
Lifelong Refers to the lifelong learning skills in pursuit of personal

learning development and excellence in professional practice
“I can diagnose what I know from what I don’t know.”
Social and Refers to the personal values and beliefs as ethical professional
Ethical consistent with Filipino family values, industry-desired values, and
Responsibility global citizen values
“I put into mind preserving natural resources in my work."
Productivity Refers to the nation-building and national development through the
application of new technology
“I use software and other modern tools to develop cheaper
technology in addressing community problems”
Interpersonal Refers to working effectively in multi-disciplinary and multicultural

skills teams
“I can effectively manage and resolve conflict within a group.”
The student respondents were selected based on their community

outreach portfolios. Although most of the outreach projects were not
credited under the regular courses, the school ensured that the design of the
NSTP volunteer activities were aligned with skills and technical expected
from marine engineering students.
Table I shows the community competencies expected from marine
engineering students’ activities co-developed by the faculty of the marine
engineering program in partnership with the Social Orientation and
Community Program (SOCIP) staff. SOCIP is the office that takes charge
of coordination, implementation, and monitoring of NSTP community
projects. An example of a skills-matched volunteer activity for marine
engineers is the design and assembly of portable solar lamps for the
impoverished communities in Montalban, Rizal, a province 20-km from the
school.
Since a multidisciplinary perspective was adopted in the design of
the community engagement program, we hypothesize that a single volunteer
activity can simultaneously involve the application of several soft skills.
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For example, the development and community deployment of a cost-
effective multisensory floating garbage collector is expected to involve soft
skills other than professional (or engineering) competence, such as
communication skills, interpersonal skills, productivity, and social and
ethical responsibility. Interestingly, not all the community projects were
related to marine engineering. Some students collaborated with their peers
from other disciplines to support the literacy and numeracy projects for
indigent communities, refurbish public school classroom fixtures during the
‘Brigada Eskwela' (or School Brigade) program, and paint houses in
partnership with Habitat for Humanity-Philippines (HHP). All in all, the
respondents were exposed to a total of 14 diverse volunteer activities.
However, based on the volunteer activities in Table I, the expected
outcomes leaned more on student communication skills, interpersonal skills,
and social and ethical responsibility. There was lesser involvement of
professional competence and productivity in the community-based
activities.
Table III
Soft Skills Profile of the respondents (n=60) based on the SS-GAS Inventory
Soft Skills Median Score Rank Description
Professional Competence 5.50 6 High

Critical Thinking 5.80 1 High
Communication Skill 5.67 5 High
Lifelong learning 5.75 2.5 High
Social and Ethical Responsibility 5.75 2.5 High
Productivity 5.30 7 Above Average
Interpersonal 5.75 2.5 High
Using the soft skills instrument to extract student perspectives on

the attainment of the soft skills, we observed that soft skill scores of the
students were already generally high (Table III). The levels of their soft
skills may be a good indicator for the alignment of their competencies as far
as the Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping (STCW) is
concerned.
To separate the effects of classroom-based learning from the
volunteer work, we stratified the respondents according to their volunteering
activity: regular, non-regular volunteers and first-time volunteers (see Table
II for the operational definitions). Significant differences between the
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groups emerged when it comes to professional competence, communication
skills, and social and ethical responsibility (see Figure 1). These skill sets,
in our opinion, may have been likely enhanced through the relevant
volunteer activities that require the development of solutions to existing
community problems. It is interesting to note that these soft skills are
associated with our expected outcomes as shown in Table I.
An interesting observation is that the enhancement of soft skills was
only seen with students who performed community outreach on a regular
basis. These volunteers, compared with occasional and first-time
volunteers, experienced the improvement in their soft skills probably
because of their general interest for life learning. This observation is
consistent with the results of our earlier study showing Filipino students are
attracted to volunteer activities for personal and career growth (Llenares &
Deocaris 2015). Other groups have also noted this observation (Primavera,
1999; Eppler et al. 2011).
Among these 3 soft skills that that were significantly enhanced by
volunteerism, it was score for social and ethical responsibility that increased
the most between first-time volunteers and regular volunteers. This is
particularly promising since there is move among educational policy experts
to highlight engineering ethics in the curriculum as engineers are expected
to come up with better value judgment and assess the impact of their
actions. This is properly timed as a response to the growing number of
engineering-associated disasters, such as the Hyatt Regency Hotel Walkway
Collapse (1981), the Chernobyl nuclear leak (1986) and Space Shuttle
Columbia disaster (2003). The Accreditation Board for Engineering and
Technology (ABET) draws to attention the study of ethics in order for
students to better acquire "an understanding of the professional and ethical
responsibility” (Bucciarelli, 2008). Besides having a firm grasp of science,
mathematics and engineering fundamentals, ABET-accredited institutions
will have to aim to produce graduates with soft skills in communication,
multidisciplinary teamwork, and lifelong learning skills and awareness of
social and ethical considerations (Rugarcia et al. 2000).
We no longer pursued further study on other academic disciplines,
such as teacher education and information technology education, despite
these courses being more popular in the Philippines. Instead, we focused on
marine engineering program because of the urgent national issue when the
study was being conceived. In 2013, the European Union questioned the
quality of Philippine maritime education prompting the Commission on
Higher Education (CHED), together with Maritime Industry Authority, to
heighten inspection and monitoring of all private and public HEIs offering
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maritime courses (Magkilat, 2018). Any substandard findings resulted in
the closure of programs, as in the case of a local college (GMA news online,
2011).
Figure 1. Graduate Attributes of Marine Engineering Students. Median scores

based on the Soft Skills-Graduate Attribute Scale (SS-GAS) of 60 undergraduate
marine engineering students based on the frequency of volunteering activities:
regular volunteer (R), non-regular volunteer (NR) and first-time volunteer (FT).
Asterisk indicates a significant difference at p<0.05 based on Kruskal-Wallis test
(H) and Cohen’s Test for non-parametric data (d) in the Soft Skill-Graduate
Attribute scale for Professional competence (PC) (H = 49.16, p > 0.01, d = 4.43),
communication skill (CS) (H = 8.57, p < 0.01, d = 0.78) and social and ethical
responsibility (SER) (H = 53.16, p< 0.01, d = 2.97). Other soft skills, i.e., critical
thinking (CT), lifelong learning (LL), productivity (P) and interpersonal skill (IS)
did not show a significant difference based on the volunteering frequencies.
IMPLICATIONS
With pressures from both national and international bodies, the Philippines
responded by enacting innovative strategies to augment and improve the
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quality of its maritime education programs. Among the steps implemented
were the enforcement of stricter academic retention policies, application,
and upgrading of technology, and strengthening of shipboard training. In
the light of this pressing situation, the salutary effects of community
engagement and volunteerism on soft skills of marine engineering students
affirm the need to enhance policies and practices that will promote skills-
matched volunteerism in maritime education. It would be worth
investigating how volunteerism would positively impact other courses as
well.
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
As this study follows a descriptive design, future studies may involve a

longitudinal approach, e.g. a graduate tracer study, to better measure the
impact of soft skills enhancement and volunteerism on employability.
On the methodology, we did not evaluate the soft skills before and
after the community-based projects as it is difficult to isolate the effects of
discrete activities on specific behavior or competency given several other
confounding variables, e.g., family background, student values, etc.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
There is no conflict of interest. This research did not receive any specific grant from
funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors acknowledge the support of the Technological Institute of the
Philippines (TIP) where Ian Llenares was affiliated as Coordinator of the Social
Orientation & Community Involvement Program (SOCIP). Custer C. Deocaris was
the Chief of the Research Management Division, Office of Planning, Research and
Knowledge Management, Commission on Higher Education (CHED), an office in
charge of crafting policies and programs in higher education research and extension.
The views expressed by the authors in this publication do not necessarily reflect the
views of the Commission.
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IAN I. LLENARES, Ph.D., is the Chair of the Department of Psychology, National

University in Manila. His major research interest is the field of positive psychology.
Email: iillenares@national-u.edu.ph
CUSTER C. DEOCARIS, Ph.D., is the former Research Chief of the Commission

on Higher Education (CHED). He currently works as a research specialist of the
Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI), Department of Science and
Technology, and is a graduate school professorial lecturer of the Technological
Institute of the Philippines. His current research interest is in field of “science for
science & innovation policy.” Email: cdeocaris@gmail.com
Manuscript submitted: January 28, 2019

Manuscript revised: May 27, 2019
Accepted for publication: December 19, 2019
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Volume 8, Issue 2 (2019), pp. 74-94

Neuroimaging and Reading Comprehension
Kyle Perkins
Xuan Jiang
Florida International University, U.S.
ABSTRACT
In this paper, we first introduce functional magnetic resonance imaging

(fMRI), followed by a review of three themes of neuroimaging research on the
neural correlates of reading-related skills: (1) typical and struggling readers,
including developmental dyslexics, (2) an inverted U-shaped function in
second language reading that portrays an increased activation in the reading
network during learning phases and a decrease in activation as participants
were more familiar with the exercise, and (3) cognitive capacity and syntactic
complexity. Our intent is to show that interdisciplinary work involving how
language operates in the brain, including the neural basis of reading
comprehension, can provide a deeper understanding of some of the
mechanics, processes, and behavioral data associated with reading
comprehension.
Keywords: functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), inverted U-

shaped function, neurolinguistics, reading network
Interdisciplinarystudies typically involve a combination of two or more

academic disciplines to achieve a common task that is related to various
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disciplines (Ausburg, 2006). The use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
to study brain activity is approximately 20 years old according to the Center
for Functional MRI (2019); therefore, it is a relatively new field in cognitive
neuroscience, medicine, and neuropsychology. One outcome of MRI studies
of brain activity is neuroimaging research on the neural correlates of reading-
related skills which can provide an indication of the neural regions involved
in language processing.
The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of three themes
in the neuroimaging research literature on the neural correlates of reading-
related skills. We believe that selected brief overviews of research on the
neurobiology of reading can provide a deeper understanding of mechanics,
processes, and behavioral data in reading comprehension. These overviews
can further complement what is taught about these mechanics and processes
in contemporary courses and programs in reading comprehension. The three
themes addressed in this paper are (1) typical and struggling readers,
including developmental dyslexics, (2) an inverted U-shaped function in
second language reading that portrays an increased activation in the reading
network during learning phases and a decrease in activation as participants
were more familiar with the exercise., and (3) cognitive capacity and syntactic
complexity.
FUNCTIONAL MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING
Neuroimaging refers to various noninvasive techniques which are used to

produce images of the brain. Those techniques include positron emission
tomography (PET), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and
multichannel electroencephalography (EEG), and magnetoencephalography
(MEG). There are two broad categories of neuroimaging: functional imaging
which provides visual images of the information processing centers of the
brain and structural imaging which focuses on the structure of the nervous
system (Center for Functional MRI, 2019). For the sake of brevity and
coherence, we will focus on fMRI studies of language processing in this paper
because the technique provides a means to (a) study the cortical
representations of language in the brain and (b) produce an indication of the
neural regions that are thought to be involved in language processing.
MRI involves a person lying inside a circular tunnel which is
surrounded by a whirling magnet that produces a magnetic field. A radio
frequency (RF) pulse is directed to the person’s head, and the tissues emit
signals which are measured and are used by a computer to construct a two-
dimensional image that displays energy levels (Jay, 2003). MRI depends on
the fact that the nucleus of a hydrogen atom behaves like a small magnet. The
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MRI device produces a strong magnetic field which causes the hydrogen
nuclei in the person’s body to align with that magnetic field. A RF magnetic
pulse at the correct frequency causes the hydrogen nuclei to absorb energy
and to use that energy to create a brief magnetic resonance signal. The RF
coils in the MRI machine detect that signal (Center for Functional MRI,
2019).
The key to understanding how MRI functions is that a magnetic
resonance (MR) signal increases by a small amount as the result of an increase
in neural activity in a particular area of the brain. Changes in the MR signal
are the result of an increase in neural activity. Stowe and Sabourin (2005)
depicted how fMRI produces brain images:
When a given task causes increased neuronal processing, there is an
increased demand for blood to supply oxygen and glucose to that area
which causes a (relatively slow) increase in the amount of blood
delivered to that area over the next several minutes. fMRI measures
changes over time in the proportion of deoxygenated blood to various
areas on the brain, so that the beginning of processing of a particular
kind of stimulus can be used as a baseline. (p. 330)
There are three major areas of inquiry in the neural basis of language,
according to Fedorenko, Hshieh, Niteo-Castanon, Whitfield-Gabrieli, and
Kanwisher (2010), “What brain regions are involved? Are any of these
regions specialized for particular aspects of linguistic processing (e.g.,
phonological, lexico-semantic, or structural processing)? Are any of these
regions specific to language?” (p. 1177). Based on Fedorenko et al.’s (2010)
inquires, we explore the connection between neuroimaging research and
reading comprehension in the subsequent sections.
Neuroimaging techniques have assisted cognitive neuroscientists
identify and explore (1) the brain’s processing of written language, (2) neural
subpopulations and the cognitive processes that critically support reading, (3)
the connection and interaction of discrete cortical brain regions, referred to as
the reading network, that broadly support reading-related audiovisual
processing (Edwards, Burke, Booth, & McNorgan, 2018), (4) the neural bases
of reading comprehension component processes by integrating cognitive
behavioral data with brain-imaging research (Mason & Just, 2004), and (5)
measures of the intensity of cognitive processing during reading (Just,
Carpenter, Keller, & Thulborn, 1996).
THE READING NETWORK

In the cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging fields of research,
the reading network refers to four dominantly left-lateralized, anatomically
distributed brain regions, each of which supports different reading-critical
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processes. These otherwise independent processes, according to Edwards et
al. (2018), must be coordinated and integrated during the overall reading
process. Edwards et al. (2018) describe the components of the reading
network as follows:
The fusiform gyrus (FG), which is involved in processing
orthographic information [Blau, Reithler, van Atteveldt, Seitz,
Gerretsen, Goebel, et al. (2010); Dehaene & Cohen (2011);
McCandliss, Cohen, & Dehaene (2003)], the posterior superior
temporal gyrus (pSTG), which is involved in processing phonology
[Pugh, Mencl, Jenner, Katz, Frost, Lee et al. (2001); Demont, Chollet,
Ramsay, Cardebat, Nespoulous, Wise et al. (1992); Paulesu, Frith,
Snowling, Gallagher, Morton, Frackowiak et al. (1996)], the posterior
superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), which is involved in cross-modal
integration of visual and auditory information [Blau, Reithler, van
Atteveldt, Seitz, Gerretsen, Goebel et al. (2010); Gullick & Booth
(2014); van Atteveldt, Blau, Blomert & Goebel (2010)], and the
inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), which has been associated with later
high-level phonological recoding while reading [Pugh, Mencl,
Jennere, Katz, Frost, Lee et al. (2001); Herbster, Mintun, Nebes, &
Becker (1997); Shaywitz, Shaywitz, Pugh, Fulbright, Constable
Mencl et al. (1998); van Atteveldt, Formisano, Goebel, & Blomert
(2007)]. (p. 1)
Cognitive neuroscientists have also identified three neural pathways
that have been shown to be involved in reading. Arrington et al. (2019)
mentioned a dorsal, a ventral, and an anterior system. The dorsal system
consists of left temporoparietal areas including the angular gyrus,
supramarginal gyrus, and posterior superior temporal gyrus. These areas map
orthographic information to phonological and semantic properties of the
printed words (Xu et al., 2001). The ventral pathway connects the left ventral
occipitotemporal cortex to the middle and inferior temporal gyri where
orthography is mapped to word recognition (Cohen et al., 2000). The anterior
system where phonological recoding and semantic integration occur has its
focus in the left inferior frontal gyrus (Poldrack et al., 1999; Zhu et al., 2012;
Zhu et al., 2013).
An appendix contains a list of cortical components and associated
terms and their cortical location. Friederici’s (2011, p. 1359) figure of
anatomical details of the left hemisphere is also helpful in locating the
different lobes, the major language relevant gyri, and coordinate labels.
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TYPICAL AND STRUGGLING READERS
In this section, we begin with a summary of the locations of neural activations

captured while typical and struggling readers were engaged in reading tasks.
Next, we present the details of one study to give the reader of this paper a
brief introduction to the kinds of prompts that are used in neuroimaging
studies of reading. We conclude this section with a brief description of
developmental dyslexia.
Neural Activations of Typical, Struggling, Atypical, and Impaired

Readers
Pollack, Luk, and Christodoulou (2015) conducted meta-analyses
separately for typical and atypical readers, including children and adults.
They used Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) to analyze contrasts for
tasks involving rhyming or reading visually presented letter or word stimuli
in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, or Norwegian. ALE determines
the convergence of foci reported from different studies and is a widely used
technique for coordinate-based meta-analysis of neuroimaging data
(Eickhoff, Bzok, Laird, Kurth, & Fox, 2012). Typical readers “showed
reliable activation in only left lateralized regions, including the inferior frontal
area, precentral area and middle temporal gyrus” (Pollack et al., 2015, p. 2).
For impaired readers, Fletcher et al. (2000) reported “more activation
of anterior portions (inferior frontal gyrus) and reversed (right greater than
left) hemispheric asymmetries activation in posterior or temporal regions
compared to non-impaired readers” (p. 49). Two other studies report the loci
of reliable activation or higher activation than that reported for struggling
readers: bilateral inferior frontal gyrus, left inferior parietal gyrus, right
postcentral gyrus, bilateral fusiform gyrus, bilateral superior temporal gyrus,
thalamus, left precuneus, and left middle occipital area (Maisog et al., 2008,
p. 5); temporoparietal areas, with increasing task-induced demands for
phonological analysis (angular gyrus), Wernicke’s area and basal temporal
areas (Fletcher et al., 2000).
fMRI Used to Study Good and Poor Readers

Meyler et al. (2007) used fMRI to study brain activation of good and
poor readers in the third and fifth grades during a visual sentence
comprehension task. The subject samples consisted of 18 third grade poor
readers and 14 good readers, and 23 fifth grade poor readers and 12 good
readers. “Good” readers were identified by their teachers as average to above
average. Criteria for inclusion in the study included a score at or below the
30th percentile on the combination of the Sight Word Efficiency and
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Phonological Decoding Efficiency subtests of the Test of Word Reading
Efficiency (Torgesen, Wagner, & Rashotte, 1999) and a score at or above the
fifth percentile on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (Dunn & Dunn,
1997). During the sentence comprehension test, the children had to decide
whether the presented stimulus sentences “made sense” or not. Example
sentences in the exercise were “The wind blew the leaf” and “The man fed
the dress”. Meyler et al. (2007) reported that “participants with lower reading
scores had less activation in the left middle temporal gyrus (Wernicke’s area),
the right inferior parietal lobule, and the left postcentral gyrus” (p. 2783).
Meyler et al. (2007) also found that “poorer reading ability is associated with
less parietotemporal activation in the left middle temporal gyrus, the right
inferior parietal lobule, and the left postcentral gyrus” (p. 2784) and that “the
parietotemporal area, particularly in the left hemisphere, appears to be a key
locus of dysfunction in children who experience difficulty in learning to read”
(p. 2785).
In summary, a broad generalization for this section of the paper is that
typical readers exhibit more activation than struggling readers in the left
hemisphere frontal and temporal regions while reading; struggling readers
show activation in both hemispheres but under-activate left hemisphere
temporoparietal and occipitotemporal networks. As a result, struggling
readers may have to compensate by increased activation in the right
hemisphere posterior regions. This spillover of activation to the right
hemisphere may be due to cognitive constrained comprehension in the left
hemisphere. Cognitive constrained comprehension will be addressed in
another section of the paper.
Dyslexic Readers
Dyslexic readers often manifest reduced or absent activation in the
left hemisphere temporoparietal and occipitotemporal networks and often
increased activation in the right hemisphere posterior regions (Pugh et al.,
2013). Different researchers have reported activation in the right hemisphere
homologous regions in the posterior temporo-parietal and temporo-occipital
regions in dyslexic readers (Shaywitz et al., 2002) and higher activation than
in typical readers in the right hemisphere and thalamus (Maisog et al., 2008).
Developmental dyslexia is a brain-based reading disorder
characterized by difficulty with decoding and encoding phonological
structures at the single-word level, poor spelling, and phonological awareness
(Arrington et al., 2019; Lyon, Shaywitz, & Shaywitz, 2003; Pugh et al., 2013;
Snowling, 2000; Vellutino, Fletcher, Snowling, & Scanlon, 2004).
Phonological awareness refers to the understanding that phonemes (sound
units that distinguish but do not convey meaning) and syllables make up
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words. Impaired phonological processing ability and poor word recognition
ability are believed to be the most common cause of reading difficulty. These
deficits affect a reader’s ability to master the alphabetic principle, that is, the
mapping of phonemes (units of sound) to graphemes (written symbols) and
are expressed as difficulties in identifying and manipulating basic speech
sounds (Meyler et al., 2007; Pugh et al., 2000).
As we noted in the previous paragraph, children with dyslexia have
difficulties with the audiovisual integration of information required in
reading. Edwards et al. (2018) note that “individuals with dyslexia show
under-activation in [the fusiform gyrus] during word reading tasks…” (p. 1),
and “in typically developing readers, activation in the posterior superior
temporal gyrus increases during rhyming judgment tasks …, whereas
dyslexics have been shown to have an under-activation in this region” (p. 2).
EXPERIENCE, EXPERTISE, FAMILIARITY, AND THE INVERTED

U-SHAPE FUNCTION
Functional and structural changes in the brain are often related to the ability
to learn a second language (Cao, 2016). Researchers have proposed an
inverted U-shaped function in neural responses to account for an increase in
activation in the reading network during learning and a decrease in activation
in the reading network as a result of the learner’s expertise, experience, and
familiarity with the script, that is, the orthography in second language reading
comprehension (Cao, 2016; Price & Devlin, 2011).
Activation
Level
Time
Expertise, Experience, and Familiarity
Figure 1. U-shaped Function
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In this context, a function is any action of a group of related actions
that contribute to a larger action. Related actions could refer to the activation
of the four anatomically distributed brain regions, referred to as the reading
network, that broadly support reading-related audiovisual processing.
Reading-related audiovisual processing could refer to the larger action
mentioned in the explanation of a function.
Figure 1 portrays the inverted U-shaped function mentioned above.
In the graph, the horizontal axis is called the x-axis. In this example, the
horizontal axis represents points in time and increases in the learner’s
expertise, experience, and familiarity, from the left (less expertise,
experience, and familiarity) to the right of the graph (more expertise,
experience, and familiarity). The vertical axis is the y-axis, and it portrays
increases in activation levels in the reading network from the bottom of the
graph (low activation) to the top of the graph (high activation). To graph a
point, one must first locate its position on the x-axis, then find its location on
the y-axis, and finally plot where these lines meet and intersect. It is
unrealistic to expect to find such a “smooth” inverted U with real data, but
our intention is to explain how U-function graphs are constructed. Our
example shows an illustration of increased activation in the reading network
during learning phases and a decrease in activation as participants were more
familiar with the exercise.
Price (2013) offered the following evidence to support the claim that
neural activation in the left temporo-occipital region increases during initial
learning and decreases with increased experience and expertise. Responses
are higher after adults learn a new script (Mei et al., 2013). Young children,
ages 5-8, having better performance on phonological awareness, pseudo-word
decoding, and word reading ability exhibit higher activation in active reading
networks (Pugh et al., 2013). As the readers’ experience and expertise with a
script increases, activation in the left ventral occipito-temporal cortex
decreases (Twomey et al., 2013). Activation in adults is less than activation
in children because adults have more experience and expertise with the
orthography (Olulade, Flowers, Napoliello, & Eden, 2013). Additionally,
increases in word frequency co-occur with decreases in inferior frontal
activation and with decreases for words relative to pseudo-words (Heim,
Wehnelt, Grande, Huber, & Amuts, 2013).
In this section, we will present brief descriptions of some studies that
led to the postulation of the inverted U-shaped function, with respect to
comparisons of alphabetic and logographic features, visual word recognition,
and visual word form system.
Mei et al. (2013) trained two matched groups of 44 Chinese college
students, 19-25 years old, to read an artificial language either as a transparent,
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alphabetic orthographic language (grapheme-to-phoneme mapping) or a
nontransparent logographic language (word-to-sound mapping). The stimuli
were 60 Chinese words and 60 artificial words which were constructed using
22 Korean Hangul letters, including 12 consonants and 10 vowels. Subjects
received eight hours of training on the association between sounds of the 60
artificial language words and visual forms. Mei et al. (2013) reported:
phonological training resulted in increased activation in the fusiform
gyrus … with more left-lateralized activation after alphabetic training
than after logographic training. This difference manifested in the
posterior portion of the fusiform gyrus, decreased in the middle
portion, and diminished in the anterior portion. (p. 169)
The left ventral occipito-temporal cortex (VOT) is involved in visual
word recognition. Twomey et al. (2013) reported that activation is greater for
low frequency words than high frequency words. Price and Devlin (2011)
proposed that high frequency written words have more familiar visual patterns
than low frequency written words, and that is why high frequency written
words evoke less activation. Twomey et al. (2013) conducted a study using
Japanese to differentiate between the effects of frequency of a word and the
visual familiarity of the word. The stimuli for the study were written in
morphographic Kanji and syllabographic Hiragana. Half of the words were
in the more commonly written Kanji (30 words) and the other half were more
commonly written in Hiragana (30 words). The stimuli also contained an
equal number of nonwords divided equally between Kanji and Hiragana.
Forty native Japanese speakers born and educated in Japan through at least
secondary school viewed strings of characters and determined whether each
string of characters formed a legitimate, existing Japanese word. Twomey et
al.’s (2013) results indicated that visual familiarity had a greater effect on the
activation of the least frequent words with virtually no effect on the most
frequent words. In addition, “lexical frequency was found to significantly
modulate activation in a region of the left inferior temporal gyrus lateral to
the area in VOT showing a visual familiarity effect” (Twomey et al., 2013, p.
191).
The visual word form system (VWFS) is located in the occipito-
temporal cortex and is believed to be involved in the orthographic processing
of visually presented words. Olulade et al. (2013) conducted an fMRI study
and an implicit word-processing task, the purpose of which was to determine
whether differences exist between older experienced and younger novice
readers in selectivity for words along the VWFS. Fifteen adult and 11 child
monolingual native speakers of English were asked to identify tall graphemes
within visually printed words. There is an ascending grapheme in the word
solve but no ascending grapheme in the word cease. “Our results showed
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differences between children and adults during word processing in the
anterior left occipito-temporal cortex, providing evidence of developmental
refinement for word recognition along the VWFS” (Olulade et al., 2013, p.
134).
Overall, the studies presented in this section show evidence that there
was an increased activation in the reading network during learning phases and
a decrease in activation in the reading network as participants were more
familiar with the exercise. An interesting longitudinal study would be to
determine whether there is a meaningful relationship between the falling part
of the inverted U and a learning plateau which is a period of little or no
progress, indicated by a flat place in a learning curve.
COGNITIVE CAPACITY AND SYNTACTIC COMPLEXITY
We begin this section with a brief introduction to cognitive capacity and then
continue with an introduction to some syntactic phenomena that are believed
to cause increases in neural activation during sentence comprehension. The
phenomena to be presented and to be discussed are argument structure
information, structures that entail movement such as topicalization, cleft
sentences, and WH-questions, and centered and right branching
subject/object relative clauses.
Cognitive Capacity
Learners can only attend to a finite amount of information at a given
time due to the limited capacity of the working (short-term) memory system
(Sweller, 1988). Originally, Miller (1956) advanced the notion that a person
could hold from five to nine pieces of unrelated information (i.e., numbers)
in short-term memory for processing, but more recent research now indicates
that that estimate should be lowered to as few as four, when it comes to words
instead of numbers (Cowan, 2001; Janssen, Kirshner, Erkens, Kircher, &
Pass, 2010).
According to Feldon (2010, p. 18), cognitive load is “conceptualized
as the number of separate chunks” or schemas “processed concurrently in
working memory” while performing a task, plus “the resources necessary to
process the interaction between them”. Cognitive load is experienced as
mental effort. When cognitive load, that is, the information to be processed,
exceeds working memory’s capacity to process it, readers will have
difficulties comprehending the text.
Cognitive load is very similar to Just and Carpenter’s (1992) capacity
theory of comprehension, that is, “cognitive capacity constrains
comprehension” (p. 122). Hasegawa, Carpenter, and Just (2002) suggest that
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the quantitative computational demand imposed by a cognitive process affects
the amount of brain activation. Language comprehension is defined as a task
that “demands extensive storage of partial and final products in the service of
complex information processing” (Just & Carpenter, 1992, p. 123). When
language comprehension has high demand “(either because of storage or
computational needs), the speed of processing will decrease and some partial
results may be forgotten” (Just & Carpenter, 1992, p. 123).
Just et al. (1996) provide a more detailed explanation:
At the cognitive level, sentence comprehension requires combining
information from a sequence of words and phrases, computing their
syntactic and thematic relations, and using world knowledge to
construct a representation of the sentence meaning. These processes
require the consumption of computational resources to perform the
comprehension operations and also to maintain the representations of
the component word meanings, propositions, and relational structures
in an activated state during the processing. (p. 114)
Syntactic Complexity
We provide a list of grammatical features which increase syntactic
complexity. Such an exemplary list should raise or enhance classroom
teachers’ consciousness of the linguistic phenomena that can impact sentence
and text comprehension.
Argument structure. Verbs play an important role in the
comprehension of sentences for the following reasons. In order to
comprehend a sentence, a reader must establish the predicate-argument
relationship between a verb and the phrases associated with it. Verbs
determine the number of arguments, their thematic roles, their syntactic
category, and their semantic role in a sentence (Meltzer-Asscher, Mack,
Barbieri, & Thompson, 2015).
An intransitive verb is classified as a one-place verb, having only one
thematic role, e.g., John slept. A transitive verb is a two-place verb with two
arguments, e.g., Sam baked a cake. A ditransitive verb is a three-place verb
with three arguments, e.g., Helen baked Mary a cake.
Verbs determine the syntactic category of the phrases that co-occur
with them, e.g., noun phrases, adjective phrases, adverb phrases, prepositional
phrases. Verbs also determine the semantic role of noun phrases co-occurring
with them, e.g., agent and theme. The agent, i.e., the logical subject, is the
cause of the action of the event, or the being, whereas the theme is the
recipient of the action, that is, the logical object. Meltzer-Asscher et al. (2015)
refer to this information as argument structure information.
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Research has shown that an increased number of thematic roles
elicited greater activation in the left posterior perisylvian regions (Meltzer-
Asscher et al., 2015). Bilateral superior sulcus activation co-occurred with an
increased number of arguments in a sentence (Ben-Shachar, Hendler, Kahn,
Ben-Bashat, & Grodzinsky, 2003). The right anterior cingulate and medial
precuneus were sensitive to the number of arguments (Shetreet, Palti,
Friedman, & Hader, 2007). The processing cost of verbs with multiple
thematic options increases as the number of thematic options increases
(Shapiro, Zurif, & Grimshaw, 1987).
Movement. Movement has been found to contribute to the
perceptual complexity of sentences (Neville, Nicol, Barss, Forster, & Garrett,
1991). Syntactic movement is involved when certain sentence constituents
are moved from their base, canonical positions in the deep structure
representation of a sentence to other noncanonical positions in the surface
structure representation of a sentence, i.e., the hierarchical structure of a
sentence as it is overtly pronounced. Movement of constituents leaves
“traces”; a trace fills the base position of the transformed or moved argument.
A trace is a phonetically empty, abstract, syntactically effective entity that
“transmits the thematic role of the transformed argument via co-indexation.
The representation of a trace is therefore necessary to comprehend sentences
in which the canonical word order is changed” (Wartenburger et al., 2004, p.
73).
Movement phenomena can be seen in topicalization, cleft sentences,
and WH-questions. In a topicalization sentence, the moved element becomes
the semantic “topic” of the sentence.
Boys, Sarah Weinstein doesn’t like.
For entertainment, we watch ballet.
That broccoli, George won’t eat.
A cleft sentence also involves movement of a constituent from its
canonical position into a separate clause to give it greater emphasis. There
are two varieties of cleft sentences, it-clefts and wh-clefts. The it-cleft is
introduced by the non-pronoun expletive it, usually followed by be, the
focused constituent and the remainder of the sentence s introduced by a
relative clause.
Base sentence: Tom went to the baseball game last week.
It was Tom who went to the baseball game last week.
It was to the baseball game that Tom went last week.
It was last week that Tom went to the baseball game.
Stowe, Tanenhaus, and Carlson (1991) contend that “to determine the
meaning of a WH-phrase, a ‘gap’ must be located and the role associated with
the gap assigned to the WH-phrase” (p. 319). Gaps can be thought of as
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involving long-distance dependencies. The following sentence illustrates a
gap. The t indicates the position in which a phrase bearing the role assigned
to the question would appear in a declarative sentence:
Which book did the teacher say that the student stole t from the
library?
WH-questions involve movement of constituents from a variety of
canonical locations in declarative sentences:
The waiter asked [which tourist] [t ordered salad for lunch] (subject
WH-Q)
The waiter asked [which salad] [the tourist ordered t for lunch]
(object WH-Q)
Which book did the student say t disappeared from the library?
(subject of an embedded clause)
Which book did the teacher say that the student stole t from the
library? (object of an embedded clause)
Some researchers have reported activation in left inferior frontal
cortex due to syntactic movement (Caplan & Waters, 1999; Cooke et al.,
2001; Just et al., 1996), while Caplan and Waters (1999) and Just et al. (1996)
have found activation in right inferior frontal gyrus, left and right posterior
superior temporal cortex, left superior parietal and left angular cortex. Ben-
Shachar, Palti, and Grodzinsky (2004) also reported that “topicalization
sentences evoked significantly higher activation in left interior frontal gyrus
and left precentral sulcus” (p. 1328). And WH-questions also evoked stronger
activations than yes/no questions in the same areas (Ben-Shachar et al., 2004).
Centered and right branching subject/object relative clauses.
There has been extensive research conducted on restrictive subject-object
center embedded relative clauses and restrictive object-subject right
branching relative clauses. The following sentence contains a subject-object
center embedded relative clause:
The juice that the child enjoyed stained the rug.
This is a complex sentence consisting of a main clause—the juice
stained the rug—and a relative clause—that the child enjoyed—which
modifies the subject of the main clause. The relative pronoun that serves as
the direct object of the relative clause—that the child enjoyed. The relative
clause is embedded in the main clause separating the subject of the main
clause—the juice—from its predicate—stained the rug.
The next sentence contains an object-subject right branching relative
clause:
The child enjoyed the juice that stained the rug.
In this sentence, the relative clause modifies the direct object of the
main clause, and the relative pronoun serves as the subject of the relative
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clause. There is no movement of constituents, and the canonical word order
(subject-verb-object) of the main clause is not interrupted. A branching tree
diagram of the sentence would show the relative clause branching off the noun
phrase object of the main clause.
Previous research has shown that normal readers make more errors
and require more time to process sentences containing center-embedded
relative clause sentences than to process sentences containing right branching
relative clauses (Berwick & Weinberg, 1984; Caplan, Alpert, Waters, &
Oliverieri, 2000; Just & Carpenter, 1992; King & Just, 1991). Memory load
associated with holding the relative clause subject noun phrase in a parsing
buffer until it is assigned a thematic role and structuring the relative clause
may account for the results (Constable et al., 2004).
Subject vs. object relative clauses. Previous research has shown
that object relatives are more difficult to process than subject relatives
(Hamburger & Crain, 1984; Just et al., 1996; Ni, Shankweiler, & Crain,
1996). The prevailing theoretical explanation concerns the assignment of
thematic role (subject or object) to the head noun of the relative clause, which
was discussed in the previous section of the paper.
Constable et al. (2004) conducted a study with 10 male and 10 female
right-handed subjects, aged 18 to 40 years old, who were required to read and
to listen to stimuli sentences and then to make a sentence goodness judgment
following each sentence. The stimuli were 120 center embedded relative
clause sentences, with half of the stimuli containing subject relatives (1
below) and half of the stimuli containing object relatives (2 below).
1. The biologist-who showed the video-studied the snake.
2. The biologist-who the video showed-studied the snake.
Prescriptively, sentence 2 is ungrammatical, because the objective
form of who is whom, but unfortunately the distinction between who and
whom is disappearing in English. The researchers found that the object
relative sentences evoked more neural activity than subject relative sentences,
primarily in Broca’s area which is located in the inferior frontal lobe.
CONCLUSION
This is an interdisciplinary paper that discusses some applications of

neuroimaging, a relatively new field in cognitive neuroscience and medicine,
to the neural correlates of reading-related skills and the neural regions
involved in language processing. Our intent is to show that interdisciplinary
work involving how language operates in the brain, including the neural basis
of reading comprehension, can provide a deeper understanding of some of the
mechanics, processes, and behavioral data associated with reading
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comprehension. We provide a brief introduction to functional magnetic
resonance imaging, the reading network, the neural activations of typical and
struggling, atypical, impaired readers, an inverted U-shaped function, and a
discussion of some syntactic phenomena that may cause increases in neural
activation during sentence comprehension due to cognitive capacity
constraints on comprehension.
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Appendix
Location of Components
Component Location Component Location
Gyrus The top part of a fold in Sulcus The trough below a
the cortex gyrus
Anterior Toward the front of the Posterior Toward the back of the
(rostral) brain (caudal) brain
Superior Toward the top of the Inferior Toward the bottom of
(dorsal) brain (ventral) the brain
Temporal Beneath the lateral Occipital Behind the parietal and
lobe fissure on both cerebral lobe temporal lobes, at the
hemispheres, toward the rear portion of the skull
base of the center of the
cortex, in proximity of
the temples
Angular In the parietal lobe Supramargin A portion of the
gyrus al gyrus parietal lobe, anterior
(SMG) to the angular gyrus
Superior At the topmost part of the Occipitotem Part of the temporal
temporal temporal lobe, lateral to poral gyrus and occipital lobes,
gyrus the head, somewhat also known as fusiform
(STG) above the external ear gyrus
Inferior In the frontal lobe, part of Pars Triangular shaped
frontal the prefrontal cortex in triangularis region in the frontal
gyrus (IFG) the lowest part of the lobe
frontal lobe
Pars In the inferior frontal Wernicke’s In the left hemisphere,
opercularis gyrus area in the posterior section
of the superior
temporal gyrus
Broca’s In the lower part of the Inferior Behind the lower part
area left frontal lobe parietal lobe of the postcentral
sulcus
Occipital Posterior to the temporal Inferior Connects the occipital
lobe and parietal lobes longitudinal and temporal lobes
fasciculus
Inferior Connects the frontal, Ventro In the prefrontal cortex
fronto- occipital and temporal prefrontal
occipital lobes cortex
fasciculus
Parietal Under the skull’s parietal
lobe bone
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KYLE PERKINS, PhD, is a retired professor of TESOL from the Department of
Teaching and Learning at Florida International University. His research interests are
reading comprehension, language testing, instructional sensitivity, second language
acquisition, and Rasch modeling. Email: perkinsk@fiu.edu
XUAN JIANG, PhD, is an Assistant Director at the Center for Excellence in Writing
at Florida International University. Her research interests include issues and strategies
in academic writing, various instructional scaffoldings, interdisciplinary literacy, and
transnationalism. Email: xjiang@fiu.edu
Manuscript submitted: December 30, 2018

Manuscript revised: September 5, 2019
Accepted for publication: October 10, 2019
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Volume 8, Issue 2 (2019), pp. 95-111

Holocaust Lessons for the Criminal Justice

Classroom
Celia Sporer
Queensborough Community College/Unites States
ABSTRACT
The recent rise of anti-Semitic acts and general lack of

Holocaust knowledge highlights the need to integrate
Holocaust education across disciplines. An undergraduate
criminology class at Queensborough Community College
(QCC-CUNY) was aligned with an on-campus Holocaust
center exhibit, ‘Conspiracy of Goodness’, focused on rescuing
behaviors of the village of Le Chambon during the Holocaust.
Prior to the class, students had only a rudimentary
understanding of the Holocaust. During the semester students
engaged with the exhibit, attended events, and completed a
paper comparing and contrasting the behaviors of Le
Chambon with those of Jedwabne, Poland by critically
applying criminological theory. Upon course completion,
students showed an increased mastery of Holocaust
information and were able to critically connect historical
events, criminological theories, and current events evidenced,
suggesting the benefit of aligning Holocaust and criminal
justice studies.
Keywords: course alignment, criminal justice, criminology, critical

thinking, education, Holocaust
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INTRODUCTION
The events of the Holocaust are almost three-quarters of a century
old, but there is still much to be learned from the period and events it
encompassed. The lessons are not simply those of historical importance, but
ones that have a meaningful relevance in the present day (Gallant & Hartman,
2001), especially for criminal justice studies. The relevance is not simply in
the modern usage of Holocaust images and verbiage in social, political, and
cultural settings or in counteracting the “fading from memory” (Astor, 2018,
Gross 2018) of the actual events. As the number of living survivors and
perpetrators shrinks, firsthand accounts disappear, and the historical context
which gave rise to the Holocaust and its immediate aftermath is fading (Gross,
2018), and with that the increased risk that history will not only be
manipulated but may also repeat itself. It is the obligation of institutions of
higher education to ensure the living lessons of the Holocaust are conveyed
to students, especially those who study criminal justice. Criminal Justice
students need to be particularly sensitive to these issues since they directly
impact issues of violence, public policy, and legal proceedings. Criminal
justice curricula by an large pays little attention to the Holocaust, despite the
almost intuitive connection of historical events of the Holocaust and Nazi
Germany and criminal justice theory, policy, and procedure, including, but
not limited to, topics that include hate crimes, use of force, discrimination and
profiling, rights of people (including incarcerated individuals), research
ethics, and manipulation of the legal system. This qualitative study highlights
the importance and benefits of the integration of Holocaust education as part
of a criminal justice classroom and underscores the need for more research
and curriculum development in the area.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Criminal justice academic literature has produced only a limited

number of articles that make mention of criminological reasoning or specific
criminal justice context in conjunction with the Holocaust, and even fewer of
these make any mention of classroom integration. The lack of academic work
on the application of Holocaust studies to criminal justice education is
surprising given the frequency of which Holocaust terminology, references,
and rhetoric are used concerning criminal justice issues by the public.
Current Uses of Holocaust Terminology, References, and Rhetoric?
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Holocaust terminology and references are common in general
discussion of worldwide events like those in sub-Saharan Africa and Europe
related to religious and ethnic issues, as well as United States domestic
politics and policy. Immigration policy and ICE agents have been likened to
Nazis and Nazi-era politicians and politics (Lapin, 2018; McBride, 2018;
Zhao, 2018). Facebook and other social media platforms have been accused
of allowing Nazi and Neo-Nazi groups to promote their ideas on their forums,
resulting in bans on individuals and groups, raising issues about the nature of
anti-Semitism, bigotry, and free speech among other concerns (Little and
Hollister, 2018; Robins-Early, 2018; Rosenberg, 2018). Recent political races
have shown white supremacists, Neo-Nazis, and Holocaust deniers vocally
running for local elections and garnering nontrivial portions of the popular
electoral vote (Kranz, 2018). Increases in anti-Semitic incidents worldwide
since 2000 (Cowan & Maitles, 2007), including the damaging and defacement
of Holocaust memorials and German governmental recommendation that
one’s Jewishness not be displayed publicly (Schuetze, 2019), highlight the
need to increase the emphasis of lessons learned from the holocaust.
College campuses have not escaped the debate on the modern
applications of the Holocaust (Stancill, 2018). Students on college campuses
nationwide are faced with images, symbols, and rhetoric of the Nazi era in
and out of the classroom (Bauer-Wolf, 2019). Not only do students need to
be prepared to face these issues on campus, but they also need to develop the
ability to translate the larger and more nuanced messages of the Holocaust
into their areas of academic interest and future career choices, including
criminal justice and law enforcement.
The need for this educational component among college students
becomes even more important considering a recently released survey
commissioned by The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against
Germany (2018). The survey of 1350 American adults found that 70% of
Americans believe that fewer people seem to care about the Holocaust, while
at the same time 58% of respondents believed that a Holocaust could happen
again. However, more significantly, this survey highlighted age gaps in
responses to many of the questions asked, with those who most closely
represent most of the college population, showing the least amount of
Holocaust knowledge. The millennial age group was more likely than older
groups to substantially underestimate the number of Jewish people who were
murdered in the Holocaust (citing a number of 2 million versus 6 million), be
unable to identify Auschwitz (the most notorious of all extermination camps),
and attributed Hitler’s rise to power to the use of force rather than through the
use of the established law and procedures of the Weimar Republic (Astor,
2018).
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While the specific historical context and situations that led to the
Holocaust will never exist again, the process, mechanisms, causes, and
practices that led up to it can and have repeated themselves. The best way to
achieve the goals of the application and integration of the Holocaust themes
into formal education is by integrating Holocaust-themed content into already
required coursework.
The History of Holocaust Education

In the immediate aftermath of WWII, there was little in the way of
Holocaust education in the United States, and what did exist was often driven
by religious, specifically Christian, influence (Littell, 2014) or within the
realm of private Jewish education (Ragland & Rosenstein, 2014). Only after
a generation did survivors begin to break their silence and play an active role
in not only telling their story but broadening the scope of Holocaust education
(Littell, 2014). The publicity surrounding the Eichmann trial and the
publication of the English version of Night by Eli Wiesel contributes to the
push for Holocaust education post-1960 (Fallace, 2006).
Holocaust education has been considered a successful endeavor
(Fallace, 2006; Simon, 2003). Although the degree and quality of education
vary across locations, it seems that most educational institutions, especially
those on the middle and high school level, have a voluntary or mandatory
component of their curriculum that included Holocaust education (Simon,
2003). Studies suggest classroom education lowers attitudes and feelings of
bigotry and anti-Semitism while increasing tolerance (Simon, 2003). The
Holocaust in higher education has traditionally been taught within the context
of history and religious or Jewish studies (Gross, 2018; Abowitz, 2002;
Littell, 2014; Ragland & Rosenstein, 2014). There is little on the college level
that examines the Holocaust on a wider interdisciplinary level (Abowitz,
2002; Littell, 2014). In recent years, there have been some limited attempts in
psychology and sociology courses to examine the Holocaust in terms of the
development of genocides, collective violence, gender, and social constructs
(Gross, 2018). Application in psychology classes has found that, done
appropriately, “it makes clear that as social beings, each individual and every
society faces the danger of taking part in such atrocities” (Lazarus et al., 2009
p. 109). Such lessons can also hold true for criminal justice courses as well.
Gross (2018) argues that currently, “the challenge is to broaden the scope of
the field” (p. 13-14) crossing interdisciplinary barriers, and the integration of
Holocaust education into the criminal justice classroom meets this challenge.
The Holocaust and Criminal Justice Education
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History courses are requirements for almost all college students, but
the need to integrate Holocaust education into criminal justice goes beyond
the acquisition of historical facts and information. While acquiring
information about historical events has intrinsic value, a greater and longer-
lasting impact of the Holocaust is the ability of students to take the lessons of
the facts and apply it to their own lives and communities correctly. As the
future defenders and enforcers of law and order, criminal justice students
should come away with an understanding that history and historical events
are, in fact, living events that continue to have influence.
Criminological Theories and the Holocaust

Surprisingly, there is little in the academic literature that emphasizes
the connection between the Holocaust and criminal justice. Nevertheless,
Holocaust education can be applied to the concept of deviance, criminal
behavior, and victimization. In general, criminology tends to focus on
criminal and deviant behavior. The alignment of a criminology course with
Holocaust content allows for an examination of the nature of deviance and
criminality in a unique fashion. The origins of the criminal aspect of the
Holocaust do not simply lie in evil or pathological individuals or groups.
Criminological theories have a great deal to say about how these crimes
emerged and, to a somewhat lesser degree, why people resisted. Several
theories are applicable to understanding the behavior of those involved in the
Holocaust, including victims, perpetrators, and bystanders. Today, Nazis,
their followers, and their collaborators are seen as the ultimate representation
of evil. In fact, they represent the ultimate criminal and deviant behavior.
However, in their time, the behavior exhibited by these individuals was not
only considered non-deviant/criminal but was considered socially desirable
and acceptable. There was an expectation of conformity with behaviors that
today would clearly be labeled deviant and/or criminal. Theories like
neutralization theory (Sykes & Matza, 1957) can help to explain “how
heinous crimes are possible, as well as how ordinary citizens can get involved
with them without feeling guilty” (Neubacher, 2006, p.798) and how
government entities can provide their people with neutralization tools, in a
manner similar that of the Nazis, to accept policies. Cognitive dissonance and
the Milgram experiments can also be used as a theoretical basis for
understanding the why and how of people obeying authority (Neubacher,
2006; Russell & Gregory, 2015). These theories, and others, when examined
in conjunction with the events of the Holocaust, can lead to higher-order
discussions of the components of the theory and their practical applications.
Victimization and victimology can also serve as the basis for the
integration of the Holocaust into the criminal justice classroom. While the
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term “survivor” is commonly used to describe Jewish people who emerged
from the ruins of Holocaust Europe ghettos, concentration, and extermination
camps, the term survivor has specific implications similar to the application
of the term in context of general criminal events, including rape and domestic
violence. The term survivor can contribute to the whitewashing of Holocaust
history and helps to limit or diminish the role of the Nazi government and
everyday Germans. The survivor label can be seen as forcing victims to
relegate their experiences to the past and encourages them to move on as if to
suggest that the direct impact of the events no longer affects them to the same
degree (Pinkert et al., 2013). Even the classification and label of victim brings
with it many implications. Concepts of the role of the victims in their
victimization and victim-blaming are prominent in Holocaust discourse, and
the lessons learned from those critical discussions can be translated to the
larger criminal justice educational setting.
RESEARCH METHOD
Participants
Participants were all students at Queensborough Community College
(QCC), a 2-year community college part of the City University of New York
(CUNY). With 504 full-time faculty and approximately 16,000 students, the
QCC represents a diverse student population representing 127 nationalities
and 78 different spoken languages. More than 50% of students come from
families that have reported incomes of less than $25,000 annually. Many
students are the educational products of the New York City public school
system.
The sample used in this study included 33 QCC students, all criminal
justice majors, enrolled in a three-credit criminology class in Fall 2017, as
part of the requirements for their major. The majority (81.1%, n=25) of the
18 males and 15 female participants were between the ages of 18 and 20 at
the time the survey was given. Most students attended class regularly, with an
average attendance of 94.8% (SD = 14.19).
Data Collection
Data used for this study was collected in survey format as part of a
voluntary alignment of a required introductory criminology class with an
exhibit titled Conspiracy of Goodness: How French Protestants Rescued
Thousands of Jews During WWII at the Kupferberg Holocaust Center (KHC)
on campus. The exhibit told the story of the village of Le Chambon-sur-
Lignon, France, that collectively saved the lives of more than 3,500 Jewish
people from extermination during the Holocaust. Focusing largely on the
historical, religious, and cultural context of the rescuers, the exhibit’s goal
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was to understand not just the actions of the rescuers, but also their
motivations. A colloquium series, including lectures, videos, and interaction
with survivors, was attached to the exhibit.
Alignment Specification
Course alignment was open to all faculty across disciplines and
required the inclusion of the exhibit content and theme in the coursework,
participation in the colloquia series as well as one written assignment. Ten
faculty aligned their course for the fall, and nine did so for the spring. The
majority of course alignments were in the English department. The
criminology course, a required class for all criminal justice majors, focused
on in this study was the only criminal justice class that participated in the
alignment and represented one of 6 sections of the class offered during the
semester. Students were not aware of the alignment when they registered for
the class. No student dropped the class on the first day when the alignment
and extra work it entailed were revealed. The course covered basic
criminological theories and included exams, textbook readings, outside
reading, and writing assignments. Students were given a guided tour of the
exhibit at the beginning of the semester, in addition to the events that they
attended at the KHC. Neighbors: The destruction of the Jewish community in
Jedwabne, Poland by Jan Gross (2001), was required reading, used as part of
the primary writing assignment for the semester, which asked students to
compare and contrast the two historical events and the people in the two
communities in the context of criminological theory. Additional, outside
research, in the forms of peer-reviewed journal articles, was required for the
paper. The writing assignment also required that students critically discuss
the potential for the emergence of similar events in modern times and to
suggest ways in which criminological theory could inform prevention.
Survey
The 13-question survey was administered via the Blackboard online
learning management site for the course during the first week of the class.
Since students come from a variety of educational and cultural background
and “students often bring considerable prior information about the Holocaust
to their study of the events, with much of the knowledge being inaccurate or
incomplete” (Lindquist, 2013 p. 32), it was deemed necessary to access
students’ baseline knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust at the
beginning of the class to ensure the success of the alignment. The survey’s
open-ended response format questions were developed initially to solely
assess students’ baseline knowledge of the causes, events, and aftermath of
the Holocaust as well as their understanding and awareness of Nazi
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sympathies and sentiments today so that appropriate background and
supporting material could be provided to students.
Writing Assignment
Students were required to submit a 6-8 page final paper that counted
for 25% of their overall grade. The assignment instructed students to briefly
describe what they had learned about the events that had taken place in Le
Chambon and Jedwabne and use a single criminological theory of their
choosing covered during the semester to explain the events. They were
instructed to compare and contrast the events in the context of the theory as
well as provide a critical critique of the theory itself and examine if their
theory could be used to explain other similar events and how the theory could
be used as a foundation to develop prevention and intervention strategies for
such events. Papers were graded on several criteria, including writing style
and the ability to adhere to the rules of the assignment as well as how well the
assignment met specific learning outcomes, with learning outcomes
accounting for 75% of the grade given. The learning outcomes of the
assignment sought to assess students’ understanding of criminological theory
and its practical application as well as assess the amount and accuracy of the
Holocaust knowledge they had acquired over the semester and their ability to
think critically about an issue related to the Holocaust. Specifically, it sought
to determine if some of the misconceptions and inaccuracies indicated in the
survey responses provided at the beginning of the semester had changed. This
was evaluated by examining students’ presentation of the factual events in
their paper, as well as the arguments made in critical thought aspects. The
grades on the final paper reflected this evaluation and were included in the
data used for this study.
Post Course Evaluations

Post-course evaluations, completed by students confidentially using
a scantron-like format as part of the institution’s general course evaluation
process that occurs in all courses in every discipline during each semester on
the last week of class, were also included in the data. The forms are standard
forms used institution-wide. The forms also contain a comment section which
was examined for specific references to the alignment.
RESULTS
Analysis of the Survey

Thirty-three surveys, representing all students enrolled in the course,
were downloaded from Blackboard. Open-ended responses were examined
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for common responses and themes and coded accordingly. The surveys
contained no missing data. The coded data were analyzed using SPSS. Basic
descriptive and correlational analyses were completed. An advanced
statistical analysis was limited by the small sample size.
Overall, the survey found (see Table 1) that while most students
understood that Hitler and the Nazis were responsible for the Holocaust and
that Jewish people were targeted, their understanding of the events was
surprisingly superficial and incomplete as indicated by their vague or
incomplete responses. Lindquist (2013) found that generally students had a
tendency to divide victims of the Holocaust into two groups: those who were
targeted for who they were and could not change (ex. Jewish, handicapped,
etc.) and those who were targeted for their actions or what they stood for (ex.
Jehovah’s Witness and homosexuals). This sample appeared to focus almost
exclusively on the former group, with few students showing an understanding
of the broader spectrum of Nazi policy. Analysis of the questions aimed at
assessing students' understanding of the cause and antecedents to the
holocaust further supported the notion that they possessed only a very
rudimentary understanding of the issues involved. The majority (51.5%,
n=17) suggested it was the Nazi’s specific dislike of the Jewish people and
their belief that Jewish people were the cause of all the nation’s problems that
primarily caused the Holocaust. Ideas of racial superiority (21.2, n=7) were
the second-most cited reason for the Holocaust. It became clear that many
students did not understand the process by which Hitler was elected into
power and how the government was used to support Nazi policies.
Table 1: Summary of Key Survey Findings

Variable
Studied the Holocaust in a formal education setting in the past
Read the Diary of Anne Frank 4
Possibly the Holocaust never happened 1
Don’t know/unsure if Holocaust ever happened 4
Did not include word Jew(ish) when describing the Holocaust 27
Include the word genocide in describing the Holocaust 10
Included the word extermination in describing the Holocaust 3
Included words mass murder/murder in describing the Holocaust 6
Include the word kill or killed in describing the Holocaust 11
Made mention of victim groups other than Jews 4
Unsure about who was responsible for the Holocaust 1
21
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Indicated Nazis are the same or similar as white supremist 21 63.63
Something to the Holocaust could occur again was very likely 6 18.18
Something to the Holocaust could occur again was very unlikely 11 33.33
Despite the students’ beliefs that an event similar to the holocaust was
not very likely to occur again, an overwhelming majority, 75.75% (n=25),
indicated that there are still Nazis today. The majority of students made some
mention of the current political situation in the United States, including
current presidential policies related to immigration, as well as local political
concerns when responding to the existence of Nazis, Neo-Nazis, and white
supremacists in the United States today. Students also cited many current
issues, including racism, police abuse of force, and ensuring constitutional
rights (including freedom of speech) as part of their responses to these
questions.
Analysis of the Writing Assignment
Students were required to submit two drafts of their papers, which
were given extensive feedback by the instructor as well as a final draft that
was graded. Three students submitted no work related to the assignment.
Twenty-one students submitted completed final versions of the writing
assignment. Nine students submitted drafts of their papers but never
submitted a final version of their paper to be graded for an assortment of
reasons, with the majority of those students having trouble addressing issues
on their drafts related to successful theory integration and the appropriate
level of understanding required for the alignment.
The theories applied for the final papers included all theories covered
during the semester. Each theory covered was used by at least one student.
The most popular among the theories utilized included rational choice theory,
followed by the various social process theories. Nineteen of the 21 students
who submitted their final paper received a grade of A or A- and the other two
received grades of B+. The grading rubric assigned points for general writing
and organization skills, as well as demonstration of comprehension and
application of the events of the exhibit and the additional reading as well as
the application of theoretical concepts of the criminological theories in a
constructive and critical manner. All final versions successfully addressed all
aspects of the final paper assignment as well thoroughly addressed the theory
selected, its application, and the specific learning objective of the alignment.
Analysis of the Post Course Evaluations
As part of the general post-course evaluation, students ranked the
class as highly informative and educational. All students endorsed that they
would recommend this course with its specific Holocaust theme alignment to
other students. In the comments section, several students stated that they felt
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the integration and alignment of the Holocaust themes brought a reality to the
class that is often missing from courses. They also noted that it forced them
to think about criminological theory in a way previous criminal justice classes
had not. While students appeared to have a somewhat limited knowledge of
the Holocaust prior to the class, the majority of students indicated that they
gained not only criminal justice knowledge but also general historical
knowledge. Anecdotally, by the end of the semester, students were able to
address the key concepts of the alignment, including factual information
about the Holocaust and its impact in a confident and critical manner. In
addition, students began to think about the issues in broader terms, including
references to other genocides worldwide and other historical events like
slavery in in-class discussions and writings. Perhaps the greatest endorsement
for the success of the alignment was that 12 of the students from the section
of Criminology opted to register for the spring semester class in Correction
and Sentencing knowing in advance knowing it would be aligned with the
same project and taught by the same professor.
The survey highlighted what appears to be a lack of overall Holocaust

education. While students may be aware of the basic facts and events, the
finer nuances and larger implications of the events and their continuing
impact seem to be lost on them. The job of educators is to ensure that this
disconnect is rectified and that the larger lesson of the Holocaust and its
outcomes should be emphasized. The responses to the survey in this class
were used to ensure that students were provided with adequate supplemental
background information. They were also used to ensure that the
criminological theories covered in lectures during the semester would focus
on making the appropriate connection to meet the learning objectives of the
course and the alignment. The broader need for the integration of Holocaust
education on a college level among this population and in the criminal justice
education setting is strongly suggested by the results of the survey.
Integrating Holocaust Education into the Classroom- The Broader

Context
While this course alignment was built on a unique opportunity that
was campus-specific, the approach and lessons learned from this alignment
can and should be applied across institutional settings. While other
institutions may not have the benefit of a Holocaust Center on campus and
the resources that come along with it, individual professors and departments,
especially those who teach criminal justice, should make sure the important
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lessons of the Holocaust for the field are not lost. With a little extra effort and
planning, integration can be successful and beneficial to all.
Benefits of Integration
Studies show that lessons learned from the Holocaust in the
classroom setting are generally retained by students beyond the classroom
although the more contemporary aspects may be lost over time (Cowan &
Maitles, 2007), suggesting the need to continually reinforce them across
disciplines. Higher education allows for the examination of the complexity of
the Holocaust and its associated issues in a more comprehensive and critical
manner that is less practical in secondary education (Gross, 2018), which
tends to focus on the acquisition of information, while higher education
focuses on critical analysis and application. Higher education settings allow
for significant discussion of topics, including those deemed more
controversial. While the expectation that Holocaust education will somehow
eradicate anti-Semitism, racism, genocide, and similar atrocities is naive,
Holocaust education can contribute to the understanding of human rights
issues, issues of stereotyping and scapegoating, as well as presentations and
use of power in the local, national, and global context (Cowan & Maitles,
2007). Most significantly for criminal justice students, it will serve to sustain
the values of the American criminal justice system as well as reinforce the
need for advocacy and justice with respect to prejudice and racism in our
system. For criminal justice students, many of whom will enter positions of
authority and power, it helps to highlight the negative impact of abuses of
power as well as highlight their need as individuals, and collectively, to not
present apathy when confronted with abuse.
Considerations and Recommendations for Classroom Integration

Those attempting integration of Holocaust content into their
classrooms must be aware of, and take into consideration, certain factors for
the integration to be fully effective. These include universalization of
Holocaust education, victims of the Holocaust, and responsibility for the
events of the Holocaust. The educators’ understanding of these issues is key
to ensuring the proper message is conveyed to students in the most effective
manner.
Universalization of Holocaust Education

The universalization of Holocaust education focuses on the use of the
Holocaust as a vehicle to teach broader issues of global citizenship, human
rights, and anti-racism (Gross, 2018), often with the goal of creating better
future world citizens (Fallace, 2006). It relies on the notion that while the
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Holocaust was focused on and specifically aimed at the Jewish people, it is
an example of genocide, and as such, is subject to the possibility of repeated
genocide (Gross, 2018). It further argues that the Holocaust was not an
accident of German or European history but a product of a modern, rational,
enlightened, and cultured society (Neubacher, 2006) allowing the Holocaust
to be used as a case study in a broader pedagogic approach that can be applied
on a local and global level. This approach originates in the works of Theodor
Adorno, Hannah Arendt, and Stanley Milgram (Gross, 2018; Russell &
Gregory, 2015), which focused on how ordinary Germans could be turned
into those who killed innocent Jewish civilians (Abowitz, 2002). The works
Eli Wiesel, Yehuda Bauer, Steven Spielberg (Shoah Project) as well as the
opening of several Holocaust museums in the late 20th century further
contributed to this process (Gross, 2018). It culminated with the United
Nation’s adoption of International Day of Commemoration for Victims of the
Holocaust in 2005 and the subsequent development of the UNESCO
Holocaust education division. These works contributed to the notion of the
Holocaust was not just the ultimate perpetuation of evil in modern times but
the symbol of criminality with lessons to be learned from its history as well
as lessons for the future of mankind and the world. While broadening the
scope of Holocaust education in this way “guarantees the future and meaning
of Holocaust education” (Gross, 2018, p. 6), there is also the potential to
marginalize the Jewish aspect of the events and “there is a long-standing
tension between universalizing and isolating the Holocaust as historical
event” (Nesfield, 2015, p. 45). The universalization message may diminish
the responsibility of those involved in that it lends to possible normalization
and can lead to “soft” denial, including the absolution of the involvement of
certain groups and countries (Gross, 2018). While there is no question that
Nazi Germany, as a political and governmental entity, is responsible for the
Holocaust, the role and collaboration of governments of occupied countries
(Santora, 2018) and the average citizen in those countries, and the responses
of unoccupied countries is more contentious. The terms victims, martyr, hero,
and survivor have been used to describe the Jewish targets of Nazi policy. The
choice of descriptive terms sends a message not only about the Jewish people,
themselves, but other groups targeted by the Nazis. The terminology
contributes to recent discussion of who the “real” victims were, with some
more recent works arguing that even the German people themselves were
victims (Gross, 2018). While the Nazis targeted other groups, including
Gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and homosexuals, the historical record
indicates their victimization differed from that of Jewish people (Gross,
2018). The key to applying themes of the Holocaust to a classroom setting is
to establish a balance. The development of events needs to be understood in
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the context of Jewish history and the anti-Semitic traditions of the European
continent but also with the understanding that while anti-Semitism is unique
to Jewish people, racism and hatred of the “other” are universal phenomena.
There is also the need to present the Holocaust in terms of not just political
and state actions, but in terms of the experiences of the individuals on all
sides.
Availability of Resources
The establishing of competency in and development of material as
the basis for integration and the integration itself can be an overwhelming
task. Several highly reputable resources can help facilitate the process.
1. Education Institutions: An educators’ own institution, particularly the
history department, is an invaluable source of support, especially in
locating primary and secondary sources of information on Holocaust-
related topics. Depending on the educational institution, there may
even be the opportunity for interdisciplinary collaboration for formal
coursework.
2. Museum and Archives: Many of these institutions have websites that
are kept updated with primary sources, including testimonial and
video footage, and secondary sources on the Holocaust in general, as
well as their current and past exhibits focusing of wide-ranging
Holocaust issues including firsthand accounts, deniers, resistance,
and complicity. These sites also provide extensive resource lists,
including reading and video lists with age and grade level
recommendations for most. They may even provide educational
material including lesson plans. Current exhibits may provide a
source for formal and informal alignment for criminal justice classes
with physical or virtual tours. Some noteworthy institutions include
the United States Holocaust Museum Memorial, Yad Vashem, the
Museum of the Jewish Heritage, the Shoah Foundation, the Holocaust
Teachers Resource Center, Centre for Holocaust Education,
Holocaust Education Foundation, Midwest Center for Holocaust
Education, and the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
Criminal Justice educators can use these sources to integrate topics such as
the rise of Nazis to power, the Nazi manipulation of the legal system and law,
the role of law enforcement in Nazi Germany— including the use of Jewish
police, the Nuremberg trials related to the concepts of rule of law, ethical
behavior of law enforcement and the judiciary, research ethics, corruption,
philosophies of punishment, definitions of criminality, accountability,
deviance, and conformity. The integration is only limited by the ingenuity of
the educators.
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IMPLICATIONS
Limitation and Future Research
The most significant limitation of this study is the small sample size
that does not allow for more comprehensive statistical analysis resulting in
this study being primarily a descriptive exploratory study. The inclusion of
only a single class section also restricts discussion about the benefits of such
alignment, including long term benefits. Students registered for the class prior
to knowledge about the alignment does help to mitigate issues that might arise
from students self-selecting into a Holocaust aligned class because of
previous experiences or interest. The evolution of the data collection, from a
simple exercise, not one of formal data collection, although organic, limits the
information that was collected. Follow-up studies need to expand on the
exploratory nature of this study and include larger samples of students and
more sections of the course. The inclusion of non-aligned comparative course
sections would also be beneficial, as well as a comparison between criminal
justice and non-criminal justice majors. Expansion of the survey tool to obtain
more participant demographics and knowledge is also warranted to provide
increased data for a fuller, more meaningful analysis. The findings of this
study strongly suggest that follow-up studies will show continued support for
the integration of Holocaust studies into the criminal justice classroom as well
provide insight into the short- and long-term benefits.
Conclusion
The origins of this article were based on a unique campus-specific
opportunity for a limited number of students, but the lesson learned from the
experience points to the need to expand the basic concept of the integration
of historical lessons, in this case the lessons of the Holocaust, into a broader
context in the college setting. Critical thinking among college students
demands that they examine the link between historical events and modern-
day rhetoric and symbols that appear in everyday culture, politics, and the
criminal justice system. Educators, including those in criminal justice, need
to continue to think more ‘outside the box’ in order to create more extensive
interdisciplinary approaches to their subject matter. The integration of
Holocaust material should be undertaken across campus and include larger
numbers of students. The effects of this integration should be assessed in a
more formal systematic manner using larger numbers of students across a
variety of criminal justice settings to assess gain in overall knowledge and
criminal justice knowledge as well as the impact of such integrations on the
attitudes of these students to the extended world around them, the treatment
of others, as well as the moral and ethical aspects of the criminal justice
system.
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DR. CELIA SPORER is an assistant professor of Criminal Justice at

Queensborough Community College (QCC)- City University of New York
(CUNY). Dr. Sporer is a CUNY graduate who has committed herself to
serving and bettering the CUNY community. As an active member of the
college community, Dr. Sporer sits on several committees, has worked
diligently to bring innovative opportunities to campus and works to mentor
students. Several of her mentees have been recipients of grants money from
the CUNY Research Scholars Program and have presented at local and
national conferences. Her research interests include emergency first
responders, human trafficking, application of Holocaust studies and bullying
behaviors. Email: csporer@qcc.cuny.edu
Manuscript submitted: September 3, 2019

Manuscript revised: October 23, 2019
Accepted for publication: November 12, 2019
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Volume 8, Issue 2 (2019), pp. 112-129

How Interdisciplinarians Work
Sharon Woodill
Richard Plate
Nathan Jagoda
University of Central Florida, USA
ABSTRACT
This paper reports on a study of what interdisciplinarians do. Data was
gathered by conducting semi-structured interviews with self-identified
interdisciplinarians. Several themes emerged from this project. First, the
principal approach to research by interdisciplinarians was broadly
exploratory and messy contrary to the linear step-by-step approach often
promoted. Most interdisciplinarians in this project paid little homage to
disciplines or disciplinary structures and often explored disparate knowledge
domains including domains outside the normal purview of academe. The role
of mentorship and community was crucial for many in the development of the
participants’ identity and skills and despite best intentions, many conveyed a
gap between what they do and what they teach. Closing this gap should
improve IDS teaching and learning.
Keywords: interdisciplinary studies, interdisciplinary methodology,

complexity
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INTRODUCTION
Interdisciplinarity is now a staple of post-secondary education. The
complex realities of the contemporary world are demanding approaches and
solutions that push beyond established academic boundaries and require
cooperation and collaboration from a diversity of perspectives (Repko,
Szostak, & Buchberger, 2017). Working beyond boundaries is, arguably, a
relatively new approach to knowledge within the academy and scholars have
set about to develop a framework that can both depict and guide
interdisciplinary work and interdisciplinary teaching and learning by
extension.
This paper reports on a project that was motivated by the first-hand
experiences of two faculty in a large Interdisciplinary Studies (IDS) program.
Upon taking full-time positions, the co-investigators of this project began to
notice a gap between the prescriptions of the generally accepted textbooks for
this program and their own interdisciplinary research experiences and
practices. This gap prompted interest in how other interdisciplinarians work
and what an IDS curriculum should entail. In short, this gap was found to be
present in the experiences of most of the participants in this study.
BACKGROUND
Two ideas resonate throughout the interdisciplinary studies literature:
(a) complexity is at the heart of interdisciplinarity, and (b) an epistemology
of complexity is predicated on non-reductionist methodologies and
integrative insights. These ideas are rooted, at least in part, in the theoretical
framework of interdisciplinary studies (IDS) laid out by William Newell
(2001). In this paper, Newell proposed complexity theory— a systems theory
of adaption and change that emerged in various branches of the natural
sciences—as explanation and justification of an interdisciplinary approach.
Newell’s work was met with much fanfare, and indeed, much dissent and
subsequent revision (Welch, 2018). More recently, ironically, the debate over
the years has distilled or reduced Newell’s framework to the adage that
“complexity necessitates interdisciplinarity.” Nonetheless, Newell’s paper
continues to be cited often as providing theoretical support of
interdisciplinarity and its impact, particularly on the interdisciplinary research
process developed more explicitly in subsequent IDS textbooks: “ [Newell]
has provided a rationale for the importance of interdisciplinary inquiry,
granting it relevance in research and application to any number of
contemporary problems,” (Welch, 2018). It is this process, as developed, that
has compelled exploration of how interdisciplinarians work and how they
train their students.
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Complexity is a somewhat nebulous term with little scholarly
consensus around its precise definition. Moreover, there are numerous similar
or arguably synonymous terms that appear with regularity (e.g., systems
thinking, cybernetics, chaos theory, and complex adaptive systems).
Although there are doctrinal differences amongst them, one might think of the
aforementioned set of terms as a set of variations on a theme. Very generally,
complexity refers to phenomena that can be characterized as dynamic non-
linear systems consisting of multiple interacting parts that self-organize into
patterns with emergent properties (Newell, 2001). Contemporary issues such
as climate change, globalization, and social media all fall into this category.
Interdisciplinarity is particularly relevant in investigating such issues because
it suggests one pull resources from different knowledge domains as
necessitated by the issue at hand.
Within the context of IDS there has been discussion as to whether
complexity characterizes the phenomena under investigation or, rather, the
process of investigation itself (Mackey, 2001; McMurtry, 2011). Much of the
literature focuses largely on the complexity of the phenomena with
interdisciplinary best practices elucidated in linear step-by-step directives,
charts, and manuals (Szostak, 2012). McMurtry (2011), however, suggests
that a complex problem requires a complex process wherein the research
approach mimics the non-linear complexity of the issue under investigation.
Focusing on the context of education, McMurty writes that, “both the student
learning we study and our own research may be understood as complex
processes interlinked with many other sorts of complex phenomena” (2011,
p. 22). Given that complex phenomena are produced through interaction of
multiple elements, a holistic approach seems warranted as merely breaking
the phenomena apart (i.e., reducing it) destroys the very object of interest—
the relationships— thus it would fail to provide insights regarding the
relational structure of the phenomena. Thus, dissection is not an appropriate
methodological approach; rather, one must engage with the complex system
in a non-reductionist epistemological framework. In this context,
interdisciplinarity then may best be understood as a complexity interface.
Understanding the interdisciplinary process as itself a complex
system in which the researcher interacts with a diversity of resources in a
dynamic non-linear fashion from which new insights emerge is a rich
conceptualization of the interdisciplinary process, and despite the subsequent
debates, fits well in the complexity framework Newell outlined (Woodill,
2016). Such an approach eschews the reductionist method of preset processes,
and instead turns toward a more creative approach that prioritizes prototyping
and trial and error methodologies that are more consistent with a sustainable
knowledge enterprise pertinent to contemporary realities (Frodeman, 2014).
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This approach to complexity seems at odds with the linear, reductionist
prescriptions found in current IDS textbooks and other IDS methodological
literature (e.g., Repko et al.’s (2017) twelve research steps that were
developed from Newell’s original work). While this application of complexity
to the process of interdisciplinary research cycles through theoretical debate,
little work has been done to ascertain whether or not this theoretical
framework is consistent with what interdisciplinarians actually do— the
central question of this research.
RESEARCH METHOD
Due to the exploratory nature of this study, a qualitative and inductive

approach were adopted. The primary goal was to get professional
interdisciplinary researchers talking about how they develop and implement
their own research and so a set of questions for semi-structured phone
interviews was developed (Bernard, 2012) with that goal in mind (Table 1).
Respondents were solicited from a list of presenters at the 2015, 2016,
and 2017 conferences of the Association of Interdisciplinary Studies. Each
interview was transcribed and analyzed. A subset of three transcripts were
analyzed independently by each author and themes central to the interview
and/or of interest within the context of the study were identified. The authors
then met to compare findings and develop a common set of themes which
were used to inform analysis of the following subset of transcripts. This
process was continued, adding or conflating themes as necessary, until all of
the transcripts were analyzed. At this point, the authors reviewed all the
transcripts again with particular focus on the identified themes (see Results).
Participants
There were 102 people contacted for interviews, and 21 interviews
were conducted for a response rate of 21%. The interviews lasted an average
of 27 minutes. Study respondents were overwhelmingly from humanities and
social science fields, with only one respondent representing a STEM
discipline. Several themes arose and are described in turn.
RESULTS
Theme 1: Exploratory Disposition
How participants formed their own research questions was of
particular interest. As stated earlier, the common perception presented in
Repko et al. (2017) is a linear, though iterative, process in which a researcher
develops a question, identifies relevant disciplines, and then searches for
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useful sources within those disciplines. This was indeed the case with several
participants; however, most participants followed a much less structured path,
and describe a process in which the research question is quite vague or fuzzy
at the outset of the literature review and becomes more refined as the literature
review progresses.
Consider the following three participant descriptions of how they
develop their research questions: 1) “I just had a sort of topical interest and as
I started looking into sources, it [the research question] emerged,” 2) “Most
research projects for me don't start in those neat, organized, ‘here's the
question, here is the this, the that’ kind of structures. They more amorphous...
Maybe I notice a general interest in something,” 3) “I had an idea of what I
wanted this project to be, and then it fleshed itself out by discovering different
motives. I learned by examining other literatures other research
methodologies or other similar work in the area.”
Several participants cited key insights into their research questions as
coming from unexpected sources, such as a book next to the book they were
looking for, or a casual chat with a colleague from a seemingly unrelated field
or a eureka moment while mowing one’s lawn. Participant 6 suggested, “We
all pretend we're totally structured, and we follow the step like this. But in
reality, that's simply not the case. Sometimes we just stumble upon things.
And sometimes it's just luck.”
With such examples of insights into a study coming from unlikely
places or experiences, invoking concepts such as serendipity or luck seems
only natural; however, in acknowledging the skills of the researchers
interviewed, it may be useful to consider Hyde’s (1998) concept of smart
luck—a luck that “adds craft to accident” (p. 139). In other words, smart luck
arises from a combination of a fortunate event and a “responsive intelligence”
(p. 140) capable of putting that good fortune to use. From this context,
consider Participant 14’s description of how they consciously foster what one
might call smart luck:
I'll draw on the stuff that is in my cerebral repository to make these
connections that I didn't see before. Now granted I'm not that smart,
so sometimes that works better than others, but really it is sort of like,
I'm going to sock that one away and then maybe it's going to be useful
down the line. And a lot of time, it sort of serendipitously happens
like that.
Or consider Participant 4’s description of the proper approach to developing
a research question: “You have to maintain that open mindedness. And so you
can't you can't take too much of a rational, defined, logical approach or else
you're structuring what you're looking for before you found it.” These
participants can be seen as describing their ways to foster smart luck. Hyde
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(1998) explains, “With smart luck, the mind is prepared for what it isn’t
prepared for; It has a kind of openness, holding its ideas lightly” (p. 140).
Note the tension (or perhaps “dance” is a better word) between openness and
one’s previously held ideas. Applying this idea to research, a researcher may
be better served by not holding rigidly to preconceived questions.
Participant 15 provided a sense of how the open, exploratory
approach described by many of the participants may overlap with Repko et
al.’s (2017) research steps:
Research done well—especially at the lit review stage—is a constant back
and forth process. You've got the ‘this is what I want to learn about’ and
then you dig into the fields that touch on the subject, and then they inform
you and they let you know, ‘oh, you didn't even think about this part,’ and
you go back to your research question and reshape it and then go back
and read literature.
Repko et al. (2017) present their research steps as an iterative process, but
the difference here is perhaps a greater emphasis on the iterations and the
depth of the changes that may result. Participant 3 provided a similar
description in the language of complexity: “As you move into the research
that is a kind of a feedback loop that you can redefine and reshape your
research question as you proceed with the literature review.” In this case, the
feedback loop is between the research question and the literature. Participant
4 seemed to suggest a more personal feedback loop between the researcher
and the system being studied:
You want to be engaged in the thing that you're studying and the decisions
that you make, and so a lot of that is an emotional and intuitive experience
as opposed to something that's more logical and linear. The beginning
stages of the research process in interdisciplinary studies are non-linear.
In short, there is a common theme here of interdisciplinary researchers
actively fostering exposure to unexpected events (e.g., insights and ideas from
unexpected sources) and allowing those events to shape their approach to their
research in new ways. Hyde (1998) says, “the mind that has smart luck makes
meaning from unlikely coincidences and juxtapositions” (p. 141). Notice the
parallel here between Hyde’s depiction of smart luck as existing in the mind
and Participant 15’s depiction of relevance:
To pretend that relevance exists in a book or in an author or in a field is
faulty. Relevance is made; it doesn't exist outside. So what I do is read
things, encounter people's thinking, and see if I can make relevance with
it because that's where a relevance exists. If I can make intellectual use of
something, that’s what makes it relevant. If I try to think ‘Well this is
relevant; that's not relevant’ beforehand, I'm limiting myself.
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Participant 20 presented this approach to interdisciplinary research as
essential to its value:
It's only by developing, pulling together research materials, and trying to
follow novel threads in those initial research materials that we start
finding ways of revising and making more original and thus more
impactful research statements than started [the research project].
Theme 2: Little Concern with Disciplinary Boundaries
The exploratory disposition of the research process as represented in

the responses of a number of respondents correlates with the pronounced lack
of concern with disciplinary boundaries that permeated the findings. This lack
of concern challenges the prescriptive methodology of starting from a
disciplinary perspective and developing competency in that discipline.
Regardless of the starting point, Frodeman (2014) suggests that
interdisciplinarity “is about the most anti-modern of ideas, the notion of limit”
(p. 3), and this view seems to capture a bulk of the practices of the
interdisciplinarians in this research. One overarching sentiment that seems to
drive a lack of concern with disciplinary boundaries is the topic-driven nature
of the interdisciplinary approach and the lack of resources in a single
discipline to address the issue of concern. This was repeated consistently
throughout the research. For example, Participant 1 explained:
I guess you know it just comes back to kind of this idea that there's
a particular problem or issue that needs to be worked on. I think I
moved very fast towards the idea that no one discipline could really
adequately handle the problems or issues that I was interested in.
Similarly, Participant 14 explained:
Well, let [me] think about this one for a second. I guess that the traditional
canon of English Studies failed to account for the complexity that I was
seeing out there and the questions that I was asking. And so, I'm sure that
a lot of people are going to say this, but [taking] what's useful from
wherever and not [being] bounded within a particular disciplinary
construct was the thing that drew me into it in the first place.
When asked what prompted the participant’s turn to interdisciplinary work,
Participant 8 replied:
I'm studying mental health issues with ministry families and how that
plays a role in their working environment, in their family environment,
and then how does spirituality or religiosity play a role in that as well?
So, you know…that's really interdisciplinary because I'm looking at all of
these disparate areas that wouldn't fall in to one academic discipline.
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That interdisciplinarity is prompted by a topic or question(s) not
addressed by a single discipline is well-established in the literature. Where
respondents seem to depart from the literature, however, is in claiming a home
discipline or a disciplinary foundation as a starting place in their
interdisciplinary approach. Indeed, one might characterize the
interdisciplinary methodology amongst these respondents as consisting of a
substantial lack of reverence for disciplinary boundaries in general. This lack
of reverence, so to speak, is apparent in several sub-themes that arose.
One of these sub-themes is a litany of disciplinary lenses utilized in
their interdisciplinary project(s). This was appreaent in numerous responses.
Participant 8 explained, “So, religious studies, psychology, marriage and
family therapy, human development, family studies, organizational
leadership.” Participant 10 said, “I drew from communication studies doing
empirical work, I drew from sociology doing sociological analysis of artifacts.
I used rhetoric and composition; I've studied narrative studies. And I studied
the literary criticism by doing Burkean analysis of the situations.” Participant
14 added, “Anthropology, composition and rhetoric, and a smattering of
things… which included, like, sociology, media studies, I can't remember the
other two things.” Participant 19 said, “So, I'm connecting anthropology of
the senses, I'm connecting psychology, I'm connecting material culture
studies. This also winds up connecting with some issues in the history of
religions.” Participant 7 explained, “I think most broadly would be
astronomy/astrophysics, earth sciences, you know, geology or earth sciences,
planetary sciences, and then bio sciences, because astrobiology is looking for
life, and so integrated in bio sciences is chemistry, [you know we're getting
into organic] those three and every subset you can possibly imagine.”
This apparent tendency to draw from a wide array of knowledge
domains fits well with the exploratory disposition that seems to characterize
at least the initial stages of the interdisciplinary approach as described by the
interdisciplinarians interviewed. It does not seem reasonable, however, to
assume that the scholars would develop expertise in each of the areas listed.
There are simply too many. Indeed, many of the respondents reported that
they followed leads from reference lists of relevant sources as a primary path
of discovery. Although they may not have the same insider knowledge as a
trained disciplinary scholar of a particular discipline, they were able to muster
sufficient competency in relation to their topic so as to make decisions as to
which insights to include and which to exclude. This finding fits Newell’s
earlier assertion that “a general feel for the perspective of the discipline,” and
“sufficient command of its relevant portions” is necessary for
interdisciplinary work (as cited in Welch, 2018, p. 205).
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Beyond reciting a litany of included areas of study, another
manifestation of a lack of concern with disciplinary boundaries appears in a
conceptualization of the disciplines referred to by respondents. What counts
as a discipline is inconsistent amongst respondents, and furthermore,
numerous respondents conceive of their disciplinary areas as being always
and already interdisciplinary. “Well, my original field is in economics, was
economic history, which is a little interdisciplinary itself,” explained
Participant 1. Participant 10 said, “Broadly speaking, I identify as a rhetoric
and composition scholar, but I guess I'm also quick to acknowledge that
rhetoric is always already an inter-discipline.” Participant 14 suggested that
they are “sort of an outlier because I teach a lot of classes within, strictly
within, the confines of the discipline of composition and rhetoric. But, I also
teach interdisciplinary humanities courses too.” Participant 18 explained:
It was in literature and literature is a synoptic discipline, so it already
has a broad scope… one of the things that's really important to
recognize is that the discipline of literary studies, or English study,
has changed profoundly and is much more interdisciplinary today.
So, calling it just a discipline is very limiting.
These conceptualizations portray disciplinary boundaries as porous and
shifting conveys a type of skepticism in or disregard for the disciplinary
structure itself, even if not explicitly stated.
While the lack of regard for disciplinary boundaries permeates much
of the responses, at times this disregard was much more explicit. Participant
9, for example, in reference to the politics of disciplinary domains commented
that “most cultures will have an element of hegemony associated with them.
What are the hegemony threats that are perceived, either real or unreal, that
the discipline has?” Participant 19 was even more direct: “My first principle
is not [disciplinary]. I think disciplines are historical, cultural, economic, and
political artifacts. I think they badly reflect and largely distort the world
they're supposed to help us live wisely in.”
These sentiments regarding disciplines reflect a broad debate taking
place within IDS regarding the relationship of IDS to traditional disciplines
and the structure of IDS by extension (Welch, 2018). On one hand, IDS has
developed as a challenge to modernity, pushing boundaries even beyond
traditional academic structures and challenging disciplinary virtues of
conformity and codification (Frodeman, 2014). On the other hand, however,
IDS remains under the institutional umbrella, and the disciplining of
interdisciplinarity is both beneficial and necessary for academic legitimacy,
institutional visibility, and epistemic effectiveness (Repko, 2006; Bammer,
2013). In other words, this faction of the debate sees it as an imperative for
IDS to transact in the norms and nomenclature of academe while another
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faction seeks to carve a space defined by its resistance to the impositions of
disciplinary structures that their exclusionary demands. Though pragmatic for
explanation, the field is not so neatly divided. Despite this debate, these
finding lend support to side of the debate that positions IDS as rightfully
ambiguous and outside of the disciplinary structure while not intentionally
seeking to eradicate the disciplinary structure writ large.
Theme 3: Mentorship and Community
That there is little reverence afforded to disciplinary boundaries is not

to suggest a lack of interest in or importance of an academic community.
Indeed, several respondents highlighted the crucial role of mentors, flexible
academic programs, and the broader interdisciplinary community in the
development of their interdisciplinary identity. This influence is of
considerable importance as it ultimately continued to shape the way they
conducted their research throughout their interdisciplinary careers. This
influence was presented in several forms and resulted in different outcomes
among the researchers in the sample.
Perhaps the most elemental form of influence from the IDS
community presented had to do with respondents’ knowledge that such a
community even exists. This idea is exemplified well by the following quote
from Participant 1: “I think it crystallized knowing that there was a group of
people that actually thought about what it meant to be interdisciplinary kind
of forced me to think a lot more about what that meant.” Participant 1
explained that while they always approached their research in a somewhat
interdisciplinary way because of the nature of their home discipline, they did
not self-identify as an interdisciplinary researcher until they became aware of
a community of scholars utilizing similar methodologies and that there was a
place for them to meet and philosophize in the form of interdisciplinary
conferences. Finding this community led Participant 1 to develop an
interdisciplinary identity and encouraged them to ponder interdisciplinarity
as they grew as a researcher. This explanation suggests that mere knowledge
of the IDS community, be it disciplined or not, has the potential to influence
the methodologies that a researcher chooses to incorporate within their
research.
An additional impact that respondents credited to the influence of the
IDS community was the freedom that the community affords in conducting
research. This sense of freedom was well explained by Participant 14: “I give
my advisors credit. They were cool with it in ways that some probably were
not, and they encouraged me to get people on my committee who were
thinking outside of Comp/Rhet or English studies.” Participant 14 explained
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that in the early stages of their research career they were encouraged by
advisors to include committee members that went beyond traditional
disciplinary boundaries, which contributed to their interdisciplinary approach
to conducting research. The IDS community encourages and supports
boundary pushing, which allowed Participant 14 to pursue their graduate
work outside disciplinary restriction. This, in turn, influenced their approach
to research and furthered community engagement. The critical role of the
community is apparently a crucial component in opening the space for the
exploratory disposition to manifest.
Disciplinarity is rooted in the peer-review process, and it might seem,
at first glance, that IDS is poised to develop along the same vein, giving
credence to the disciplining interdisciplinary ambitions of scholars so
motivated. Interdisciplinarity differs, however, in its content-agnostic
framework. Participant 18 explained it in bumper-sticker parlance:
“Interdisciplinarians do it in any field.” What seems to bind the
interdisciplinary studies community is not a specific set of concepts or
methods, but a propensity to challenge the status quo if only to the extent of
ignoring it. In this sense, the IDS affiliates might be better understood as a
support network rather than a distinct discipline or field of knowledge. This
understanding fits with the how respondents conceptualize the IDS
community. Participant 9, for example, states: “Our institution is a member
of AIS. There are many North American institutions or institutions around the
world. So that gives me an international feel for what the issues, what the
concerns, are with interdisciplinarians.” Participant 10 explained:
I have been thinking about interdisciplinarity from about the time that
I was twelve years old. My father was a professor of Interdisciplinary
Studies, and I sat in the back during his seminar quite a bit. So, as I
went through college and did work, the notion of the academic
disciplinary silos was already rather more broken down for me than
perhaps for some of my peers.
That the IDS community serves more as a support system rather than
a disciplinary unit is further evidenced by the frustrations expressed by
numerous respondents with the publication process. Understandably, the
content-agnostic quality of IDS provides few tools for assessing specific
content of interdisciplinary projects despite numerous attempts to develop
tools to assess the interdisciplinarity of a given project. Mansilla (2006), for
example, conducts empirical research on approaches to interdisciplinary
inquiry and identifies the epistemological frameworks professional
interdisciplinarians utilize for the validation of insights produced. While this
work is surely invaluable for assessing interdisciplinarity, it offers little in the
form of tools for content assessment. The problem is exacerbated by attempts
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to publish interdisciplinary work in disciplinary publications. Participant 4
explains that: “Unfortunately, there are many publication outlets that are just
downright suspicious of interdisciplinary methods,” and that:
I feel like what I have to do often is over explain the interdisciplinary
approach to knowledge to let people who are not familiar with it
understand why it's important and how it's working and what it's doing.
But, a lot of time that gets negative feedback. I think sometimes there are
comments I've heard it's like: “Oh this paper is all over the place.” Well,
it's all over the place because it's an interdisciplinary paper. So…you have
to you have to tailor it to your audience to an extent. And so, if you're,
you know, an outsider trying to get into a journal that has very specific
parameters, a lot of times, frankly, their reaction to you is somewhat
xenophobic.
Framing one’s work to appeal to a specific academic audience was a common
theme amongst respondents. Participant 3 explained:
You know when I'm writing for a literary journal, I have one methodology
top of mind and if I'm pitching something to an interdisciplinary journal
my methodology is different. So, I do wear different hats according to my
audience. I may be a bit of an aberration there.
If IDS was succeeding in the quest to become an established discipline, it
seems unlikely that IDS practitioners should be still struggling to such an
extent for place and legitimacy within traditional academic fields. Participant
16 recited an experience that seems to epitomize this problem. They explained
their research in detail and their long history of participation in a specific
academic area and with a specific academic journal. The respondent
explained that “I have been very involved in the organization and I had read
submissions for years for them, for the editors, and they sent it to three
readers, which is unusual. Anyway, [it was] ultimately rejected.”
Seemingly, IDS has not become a buffer against academic
disciplinary politics nor produced a viable set of translation tools through
which interdisciplinary practitioners can reliably convey novel concepts and
ideas to established knowledge domains, despite the saturation of academe
with demands for interdisciplinary research, programs, and curriculum
development. This state of affairs is likely indicative of the challenge IDS
poses to the status quo, not just in terms of its challenge to disciplines, but in
terms of its challenge to approaches to knowledge more generally. Thus, it
does not seem that disciplining interdisciplinarity has been effective and,
therefore, is not the best approach for developing the field of IDS. The
discrepancy between the teaching and practicing of interdisciplinarity that
motivated this project may be indicative of a broader discrepancy between the
theory and practices of interdisciplinarity more broadly. Rather than
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assimilating IDS to the disciplinary structure, this discrepancy can inspire an
even broader challenge to that structure that gives space to the power and
promise of IDS as something truly new and different.
Theme 4: Discrepancy Between What Interdisciplinarians Do and What

They Teach
The discrepancy between doing interdisciplinary work and teaching

interdisciplinarity was frequently discussed by participants, though to various
degrees. In 2006, Mansilla noted something similar. Mansilla and colleagues
were “concerned with the chasm between the demand to prepare our youth to
address complex matters of cultural and environmental survival on the one
hand and the lack of empirically based guidelines for interdisciplinary
instruction on the other” (p. 2). The discrepancy between doing and teaching
interdisciplinarity uncovered in the findings of this project was widespread,
though to various degrees.
The seeming messiness of the interdisciplinary approach, at least in
the initial stages, that many respondents described might account for some of
this discrepancy. One respondent, after characterizing their own methodology
as exploratory with open-ended research questions and cultivated
serendipitous exploration, rejects the possibility of cultivating such an
experience for students. Talking about one project specifically, Participant 3
explained:
I'm not defining the research question, which flies in the face of
everything I teach in the classroom...You gotta’ think if you don't
formulate a research question in the undergraduate classroom then
you can end up going down all kinds of rabbit holes.
Participant 6 explained:
Sometimes, when you teach that to students, you know, how to do
interdisciplinary research…it can be helpful to teach them in a very
structured way. But, it also has its disadvantages because they will
realize, once they do their own project, that it's not as clear cut as we
present it to them.
When asked about their typical approach to literature searches, Participant 1
replied: “Probably a lot less organized than I advise people to do.” Messiness
is not a traditionally accepted virtue of the classroom and traditionally a
marker of a lack of academic rigor.
Some of this discrepancy is likely a product of a broader discrepancy
between the demands of an institution steeped in reductionist traditions of
institutional assessments, timelines, and publishing norms. Participant 9
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summarized the issue in explaining the institutional demands for evidence and
proof of effectiveness:
So, at my particular program, every five years I have an outside five year
review of our Interdisciplinary Studies program, and what we do is we
set goals based upon any identified limitations or weaknesses with a five
year plan not only to address those limitations or weaknesses but also to
move the program forward in the mainstream interdisciplinary studies.
These demands seem to force IDS programs into the very structure many of
its adherents seek to eschew. The demand for reductionism is reinforced in
publishing norms. Again, the apparent messiness of the process does not
ascend to traditional virtues of academic rigor, and thus methods need to be
conveyed in the step-by-step way. This of course creates an illusion as to how
interdisciplinarity proceeds that then facilitates an explanation and
justification for translating this illusion into pedagogy. Participant 6 stated:
I think afterwards you can turn it into a step-by-step process. But, when
you write it down, obviously, you have to write it down or present it in
a very structured academic way. But, I think the inner process, your own
research process, is way messier than what you actually put on the page.
Because, then, afterwards, you structure accordingly, and that structure
has something to do with the rules of your discipline.
The reductionist demands of academe are, perhaps inextricably,
embedded in the stringent time constraints of the institutional approach to
education. Thus, this discrepancy, despite best intentions of interdisciplinary
instructors, functions as a barrier to bridging the gap between what
interdisciplinarians do and what they teach their students to do. Consider
Participant 2’s explanation:
I'm usually trying to allow and facilitate the kind of process I'm describing
for the students. It's just that usually there's more of a time constraint. And
there's also the curricular and outcome type constraints, that when you
put those all together, we don't get to do as much exploration probably as
I normally would like them to do, just because we're moving fast. The
semester moves so quickly.
So, the question is, what should the interdisciplinary studies students be
taught? Given that interdisciplinarity has arisen logically from and in answer
a Western epistemological framework (Welch, 2009), its apparent propensity
to cut across the grain of institutions still largely structured on the Western
framework is hardly surprising. In this context, the step-by-step process
presented by Repko et al. (2017) can be seen as a guard rail for students,
helping them to avoid getting lost in their own research and keeping them on
pace to produce a final product in a timely manner. But, is protecting students
from the messiness interdisciplinary research in this way the best way to help
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them mature as researchers? Respondent 3 spoke of avoiding rabbit holes, but
perhaps it is exactly the rabbit holes that facilitate the interdisciplinarity
espoused by our participants.
IMPLICATIONS
From the sample of this project, there appears to be little consistency
in what interdisciplinarians do, unless one considers this inconsistency as the
consistency. The idea of the interdisciplinary process as itself an unfolding
complex system in which the researcher interacts with a diversity of resources
in a dynamic non-linear fashion from which new insights emerge is an apt
characterization of the process and supports the complexity framing of
interdisciplinarity, at least as a viable heuristic device if not a whole
representation. It is with the linearity of the process derived therefrom that
these findings conflict.
Repko et al. (2017) describe a cognitive toolkit—a set of intellectual
capacities, skills, values, and traits including such things as empathy,
humility, tolerance of ambiguity, and intellectual courage. While there seems
to be little consistency in methods amongst the respondents in this project,
one might argue that there is a great deal of consistency in the manifestation
of these capacities. Repko et al. (2017) suggest that “repeated exposure to
interdisciplinary studies fosters the development of…perspective taking,
critical thinking, and integration,” (p. 92), which are the key competencies of
interdisciplinarity. This assertion creates a bit of a dilemma, however, because
it suggests both that IDS fosters these cognitive tools while at the same time
these cognitive tools are necessary for IDS. While carefully crafted courses
taught by professors from two specific disciplines appear to increase students’
integrative thinking and fosters greater student engagement (Abbott & Nantz,
2012), core courses in numerous IDS programs, such as the ones the
investigators are charged with, boast a roster of students from areas of study
that run the gamut of disciplinary areas. Furthermore, starting from a specific
discipline or set of specific disciplinary perspectives does not align with what
interdisciplinarians seem to do. So, where do instructors start?
In their quest to align their teaching and research practices,
Participant 20 explained that their objective in their class is to cultivate an
“exploratory disposition.” The heart of interdisciplinarity, as supported by the
interviews in this project, might be characterized as a deep disregard for
boundaries. Thus, positioning interdisciplinarity as a highly creative endeavor
that affords practitioners the capacity to mobilize and develop insights and
ideas from an unscripted set of sources. Montouri (2005) recommends the
adoption of the conceptualization of scholarship as a creative process: creative
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inquiry. Montouri writes that: “Creative Inquiry involves the cultivation of a
fundamental attitude to the world that actively embraces uncertainty,
pluralism, and complexity,” (2012, p. 66). From an IDS perspective, this
makes a great deal of sense and supports some key insights that have emerged
from this project.
What does this mean for teaching? There are three points gleaned
from this research that might serve as orientating points. First, so long as the
pedagogical approach of IDS remains focused on conveying a specific
method or approach grounded in the disciplinary structure, the gap the
investigators noted and that motivated this study has little chance of being
closed. It seems that it would be more profitable to focus undergraduate
education on cultivating the cognitive toolkit as the foundation for creative
inquiry or interdisciplinarity. Second, there is a need to create within the
interdisciplinary classrooms a supportive environment that allows for the
messiness that characterizes the exploratory journey. Third, in order to
facilitate such an environment, a re-fashioning of what higher education looks
like will be necessary. In this re-imagining, the challenge is to develop an
educational environment that cultivates and supports the complexity of the
interdisciplinary approach. Such an environment would adjudicate process
rather than product and prioritize engagement over achievement. Some strides
to this end have been made (Shandas & Brown, 2016) and while some critical
of interdisciplinary studies suggest a complete dissolution of the disciplinary
structure (see Frodeman, 2014; Forman, 2012), such assertions are not
warranted from the findings in this study. What is warranted is the need for a
space within the academe but outside of the disciplines that fosters and
supports interdisciplinary knowledge-making, both critical and instrumental
in terms of teaching and learning.
Closing this gap has several widespread implications. That IDS poses
a challenge to disciplinary approaches to knowledge is well established but
developing this challenge to its full power and promise may be hampered by
the efforts to reproduce IDS in the disciplinary image. In its challenge to
traditional approaches to knowledge, IDS embodies a challenge to traditional
approaches to teaching and learning that requires a shift from product to
process, engagement to achievement, and disciplining to fostering. Bridging
the gap between what an interdisciplinarian does and what they teach would
bring the immense power and promise of interdisciplinary studies into full
relief.
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Sharon Woodill, PhD, is a Lecturer in Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of

Central Florida, USA. Her research interests include Interdisciplinary Methodologies,
Secular Studies, Science, Religion and Sexualities, and Feminist Science Studies.
Email: Sharon.Woodill@ucf.edu
Richard Plate, PhD, is a Lecturer in Environmental Studies and Interdisciplinary

Studies at the University of Central Florida, USA. His research focuses on how people
learn and make decisions about complex social-ecological systems. Email:
Richard.Plate@ucf.edu
Nathan Jagoda, MA, is a research assistant in Sociology and Interdisciplinary

Studies at the University of Central Florida, USA. Email:
Nathanjagoda@Knights.ucf.edu
Manuscript submitted: September 25, 2019

Revised: November 20, 2019
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Volume 8, Issue 2 (2019), pp. 130-146

Cambodian youth perspectives on social and

educational barriers:
An exploratory case study in a rural border region
Jeremy Tost
Colorado Mesa University, USA
Bob Spires
University of Richmond, USA
Sokleng In
Love Without Boundaries, Cambodia
ABSTRACT
Life in Cambodia can be challenging and education is often seen as a key

development intervention to address social and economic issues. However,
rural Cambodian youth face a variety of barriers to education. The current
case study examines these barriers using a questionnaire assessing youth’s
attitudes toward education (N = 50). Results indicate that poverty and the
pressure to migrate for work are a significant barrier to educational
attainment, despite the perceived benefits of education by youth and
encouragement by families. Results also reveal that inter-educational issues
persist. These findings can be used to better tailor development aid
targeting educational measures, particularly encouraging a shift from
convincing rural Cambodians to value education to targeting the contextual
barriers that exist.
Keywords: Cambodia, development, education, poverty, youth
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Cambodia is a developing country in Southeast Asia that has made

significant strides in many important development indicators, yet, continues
to face lingering challenges. In particular, youth issues in Cambodia remain
at the forefront of national and international level education and
development discourse due to troubling demographic trends. Education is
uniquely situated to address youth issues and foster broader national change.
Nonetheless, due to a variety of historical factors and social issues that limit
Cambodian education’s effectiveness, more concerted efforts are needed in
the education arena. The following study explores the perspectives of rural
youth living in border communities in Western Cambodia on education and
barriers to education within the context of the efforts of a Cambodian Non-
Governmental Organization (NGO). Recognizing the importance of
education, this research seeks to better understand the current local, rural
situation, to inform grassroots actors of the contextual issues and youth
perspectives that may influence the effectiveness of micro-level efforts, as
well as to contribute to the broader literature on education in developing
contexts.
When the Khmer Rouge regime came to power in Cambodia in
1975, all public institutions including public education were dismantled. In
addition, the tools of education such as teaching materials and textbooks
were destroyed. When the Khmer Rouge were ousted in 1979, the new
government began to rebuild the education system with little infrastructure
or skilled populace. The approach for rebuilding focused on a simple
principle, “Those who have more education will teach those with less”
(Bunlay, Wright, Sophea, Bredenburg, & Singh, 2010, p. 3). By 2003, 75%
of primary school teachers still had less than an upper secondary education
(Bunlay et al., 2010). The quality of public education in Cambodia remains
problematic. Further, teaching in rural Cambodian schools remains teacher-
centered using traditional teaching methods, despite the research pointing to
the enhanced effectiveness of other methods.
Demographically, Cambodia continues to suffer from a skills
shortage and skills mismatch society-wide. The loss of the intelligentsia
during the Khmer Rouge era severed “the link of human capital transfer
between generations” (Jeong, 2014, p. 3), as exemplified in the teacher
shortage. Further, after the end of the Khmer Rouge rule, a Cambodian baby
boom occurred, with those youth now aging into the labor force. The need
for improved education and training is becoming more important for
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younger generations, particularly as the unskilled labor force continues to
grow.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Education is key to addressing the social issues and, for almost two
decades, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MOEYS) has outlined
strategic plans to address the shortcomings of the Cambodian education
system. However, Cambodian schools still face issues of enrollment, high
dropout rates, and high repetition rates (Tan, 2006). Despite expanding the
quantity of schools across the country, quality remains inconsistent (Dy &
Ninomiya, 2003). Further, extenuating issues, such as teachers charging
informal fees of students and the high opportunity cost of youth choosing
school over work, have been acknowledged and documented for years (Tan,
2006; Vo, 2016). Widespread corruption and graft in the form of fee-based
exchange for grades and extra tutoring within Cambodian schools (Tan,
2006) further limits the expansion of education to those least-advantaged
children. Large numbers of unskilled youth in the labor force reinforce the
sex industry, impacting youth vulnerability to human trafficking and other
forms of exploitation (Vo, 2016). Within these educational and social
circumstances, the current study attempts to provide a micro-perspective of
rural youth and the issues they face, as they cope with the educational and
social realities of rural village life along the Thai-Cambodia border while
contributing to the broader comparative literature on educational issues in
developing settings.
The researchers for this case study have collaborated with a small
NGO in Western Cambodia near the border with Thailand since 2014. The
NGO established a modest four-room school for children and youth in one
village and in 2016 partnered with an American NGO and began to expand
efforts into building additional schools and nutrition programs in more
villages, as well as launching a medical care program and a foster care
program. Prior to this transition, the researchers and NGO staff conducted a
small-scale survey of both women and youth in the surrounding villages.
With the documented educational issues from the literature in mind, the
researchers sought to clarify the extent to which educational and social
issues were occurring with the local youth. Further, the researchers sought to
clarify youth attitudes toward the government schools in relation to the
educational programs provided by the NGO.
The current case study was conducted in a cluster of rural villages
with numerous children who are not attending government schools, and
even when families can afford to send their children, they are often behind
their urban peers academically and developmentally. Low educational
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attainment of parents further limits these children’s educational support at
home. According to the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport (2015), for
those students in the area where the villages are located, 139,474 students
(64%) are enrolled in schools with 102,923 (47%) being youth from a rural
location. In the 2014-2015 reporting period, it was noted that 13.8% of
primary students in the province are over-age for their grade-level, as well
as 20.8% for lower secondary and 25% for upper secondary, respectively.
Only 75% of primary students in the province transition to lower secondary
school and, of those, only 63.8% transition to upper secondary school. The
research setting villages have similar issues to those of the province and
comparable to other rural, developing areas.
Similar to Cambodia at-large, the number of students matriculating
to higher educational levels in the province is drastically reduced and these
figures point to the need for additional support, particularly for rural
children, to successfully complete primary and secondary education.
Educational success is interwoven with a host of other contextual factors
impacting these children, including economic pressure on the family, health
of the children and their families, and family support of learning at home.
Developmental delays are also prevalent among rural Cambodian children in
general due to acute malnutrition, an issue impacting children country-wide
(World Food Programme, 2003). Many of the children in the rural villages
targeted by this study face malnutrition and stunted growth, which has
serious implications for brain development, cognitive functioning, and long-
term health consequences (Morley & Lucas, 1997; Stein & Stusser, 1985;
World Food Programme, 2003), as well as effects on education (Behrman,
1996).
Childcare is another issue impacting school age children, as older
siblings of primary and secondary school age children in these villages are
obliged to care for infant and toddler siblings as parents migrate for work.
Across extended periods of time, such absences stifle children’s educational
opportunities, and missed educational opportunities for these school-age
caregivers further cement generational poverty of families. Anecdotally,
local youth have noted to NGO staff that they feel their own guilt at going to
school knowing that they could be working to support the household.
Drawing on Maslow’s (1943) theory of motivation, which includes
his hierarchy of needs conceptualization, the researchers sought to identify
the significant issues that these rural youth face in social, economic, and
educational terms. Given the universal nature of what Maslow proposes, our
expectations regarding Cambodian youth transcend their specific time and
location. We argue that not only are the basic needs of nutrition and
economic security not being met, but basic safety and security at school may
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also be in question due to attitudes and behaviors of teachers. Further, safety
in the community is an issue, as village children and youth must travel
significant distances on rural roads to get to the closest government schools.
According to Maslow (1943), the first two levels of basic human
needs are physiological, which includes food and shelter, and safety, which
includes security and freedom from fear. However, as will be noted below,
the youth in this study do not have these two levels of basic needs met, even
in public school, and therefore education is likely to be limited as an
effective intervention.
Maslow’s hierarchy has been adapted to serve educational settings
(Mittelman, 1991), emphasizing the importance of meeting needs in an
ordered fashion to maximize the learning experience. As clarified by
Hutchinson (2003), without these basic needs being met, students will likely
be demotivated (if not outright unable) to learn with student disengagement
increased. In a general sense, lower-order needs must be met before one can
progress to higher-order needs (Burleson & Thoron, 2014). With the focus
on real world educational outcomes, it is worth considering a holistic
understanding of the social and economic factors impacting these village
youth and other youths facing similar settings and circumstances.
Research Questions
Research Question One: What barriers do rural Cambodian youth face to
accessing education?
Research Question Two: How do rural Cambodian youths’ attitudes of their
government school compare to their attitudes of their NGO school?
RESEARCH METHOD
Survey items arose from a combination of discussions with NGO

staff, informal interviewing with select youth, and exploration of the
literature. Survey items were grouped according to the key elements of
interest given the research questions. Furthermore, survey items were vetted
by NGO staff for accuracy, age appropriateness, and face validity prior to
administration.
The survey was intended to capture a clear understanding of youths’
perceptions of barriers and attitudes toward education, the concrete material
realities of the youth, their general attitudes toward migration, as well as
youth attitudes toward the NGO school versus government school. The
following items are organized around the research questions and utilize a
variety of response items.
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For Research Question One - What barriers do rural Cambodian
youth face to accessing education?, responses are organized around seven
themes: teachers, perceived safety, educational encouragement, enjoyment
of education, perceived benefit of education, access to resources, and
migration.
Six items asked the students to reflect on their teachers, specifically
the behaviors of charging fees, hitting, verbally abusing, and payment for
supplies. Three items were assessed using a 4-point Likert scale (1 =
disagree, 2 = partly disagree, 3 = partly agree, and 4 = agree) while three
additional items employed a yes/no response.
Three items asked students to reflect on the perceived safety at the
locations of home, governmental school, and NGO school using the same 4-
point Likert scale mentioned previously. All Likert scale items for this
research employ the same 4-point scale.
Three items asked students to reflect on the extent to which they are
encouraged at the home, governmental school, and NGO school using a 4-
point Likert scale.
Two items asked students to reflect on their enjoyment of
government school and the NGO school using the 4-point Likert.
Two items asked student to reflect on the perceived benefit of
government school and the NGO school using the 4-point Likert scale.
Six items asked students to comment on whether or not they had the
following resources: school supplies, school uniform, motorcycle, bicycle,
smartphone, and computer. All six items were assessed using a yes/no
response.
Lastly, six items asked students to provide information regarding
whether their family engages in migrant working in Thailand and whether or
not the student is interested in working in Thailand.
For Research Question Two - How do rural Cambodian youths’
attitudes of their government school compare to their attitudes of their NGO
school?, responses are organized providing a comparison of the government
school with the NGO school, with the student’s home included in some
instances. Paired-sample t-tests were utilized when comparing only the
government school and NGO school. When adding home as a third
location, a repeated-measures ANOVA was employed. Items include
comparisons across four themes: enjoyment of education, perceived safety,
perceived benefit of education, and educational encouragement. All items
were assessed using a 4-point Likert scale.
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Participants
The current case study focused on the data from a small-scale
survey using a purposeful sample of youth in the target area of Western
Cambodia. The case study approach (Creswell, 2012; Patton, 2002, Yin,
2003) was selected as effective for addressing research questions for a
concise case limited by time and space. The case study approach was also
selected as it allows for further expanding of the findings in both scope and
depth with subsequent research in the future. The 25-item survey was
designed by the researchers and the questions were based on information
gathered from informal interviewing of NGO staff and youth participating in
the NGO’s programs. The key issues noted in these informal interviews
became one or more of the survey items. In addition, an IRB has approved
the use of human subjects in this study.
Surveys were implemented by NGO staff and administered to 50
youth, all of who participated in NGO programs to varying extents. Of the
50 youth, 35 were female and 15 were male. The participants’ age ranged
from 11-20 years old (M = 14.62, SD = 1.98). All of the youth participants
attended government elementary, lower secondary, or upper secondary
schools as well as the NGO’s supplementary educational programming
during the evenings and on weekends. Further, the number of people living
in the households of these youth ranged from 3-12 (M = 6.66, SD = 2.61).
An examination of sex differences revealed no significant difference by sex
for the number of people in household, t(48) = 0.36, p = .718 nor by age of
participant t(48) = 0.89, p = .379.
RESULTS
In response to Research Question One - What barriers do rural

Cambodian youth face to accessing education?, descriptive statistics are
organized around the seven themes addressed previously.
For Likert-style responses, means and standard deviations can be
found in Table 1. For yes/no responses, raw numbers and percentages can be
found in Table 2. A general summary of findings is that while barriers to
education exist, students are able to recognize aspects of their educational
circumstances as promising. For questions utilizing the 1 (disagree) to 4
(agree) scale, higher scores indicate greater agreement with the survey
statement, while lower scores indicate greater disagreement and with 2.50
being the center point.
Results pertaining to government school teachers are mixed. While
students tended to agree with statements that teachers do not hit (M = 2.68,
SD = 0.89) or verbally abuse (M = 2.62, SD = 0.61), students agreed that
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teachers charge fees for tutoring and snacks (M = 3.12, SD = 0.96).
Regarding the item assessing agreement with the statement that teachers do
not hit, 22 students (44%) indicated some level of disagreement, while for
verbal abuse 20 students (40%) indicated some level of disagreement. These
findings are of particular importance as these are some of the lowest scores
for some of the most disheartening items indicating that some students
experience hitting and verbal abuse in schools.
When asked Yes/No questions, most students (80% - 90%) similarly
agreed that additional payment was needed for extra supplies, tutoring, and
snacks.
Regarding perceived safety, students indicated agreement that the
home (M = 3.32, SD = 0.98), NGO school (M = 3.40, SD = 0.76), and
government school (M = 2.98, SD = 0.74) were generally safe places.
Regarding educational encouragement, students agreed with
statements that they go to school, in part, due to encouragement from their
parents (M = 3.72, SD = 0.54), from the NGO school (M = 3.44, SD = 0.64),
and from the government school (M = 3.14, SD = 0.81).
Regarding enjoyment of education, students tended to agree with
statements that they enjoyed both their NGO school (M = 3.52, SD = 0.54)
and government school (M = 3.00, SD = 0.64).
Regarding perceived benefit of education, students tended to agree
with statements that their NGO schooling (M = 3.66, SD = 0.52) and
government schooling (M = 3.02, SD = 0.65) would benefit them in the
future.
Results pertaining to access to resources showed that students are
most likely to have a school uniform (72%), followed by bicycle (54%),
school supplies (50%), a smartphone (34%), motorcycle (20%), and lastly a
computer (12%). While these results are not surprising due to the overall
poverty in the Banteay Meanchey province (Asian Development Bank,
2012, p. 3, 9), it is important to note that not all students own a school
uniform or school supplies which are further indicators of poverty.
Regarding migration, 32 (64%) students have family working in
Thailand. Of those with family working in Thailand, the number of family
members working ranges from 1 to 9 with the average number, M = 3.94,
SD = 1.98. Regarding the frequency of travelling to Thailand, four students
(8%) reported everyday travel while 28 students (56%) reported travelling
for an extended time period. Regarding the type of work, 1 student (2%)
reported a cleaner, 25 (50%) reported laborer, while 6 (12%) reported seller.
When asked if the student was interested in working in Thailand, 29
(58%) reported “No” while 21 (42%) reported “yes”.
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In response to Research Question Two - How do rural Cambodian
youths’ attitudes of their government school compare to their attitudes of
their NGO school?, a series of paired-samples t tests and repeated-measures
ANOVAs were utilized to examine group differences. Results indicate that
the NGO school was viewed more positively than the government school,
though differences were minimal. Means and standard deviation by location
can be found in Table 3.
A paired-samples t test was used to examine differences comparing
student enjoyment of school at the different locations. Students reported
significantly more enjoyment at the NGO school (M = 3.52, SD = 0.54) than
at the government school (M = 3.00, SD = 0.64), t(49) = 5.43, p < .001, r² =
.38. Overall enjoyment responses for both locations were favorable.
A paired-samples t test was used to examine differences comparing
students’ view on school being beneficial in the future. Students reported
getting significantly more benefit from the NGO school (M = 3.66, SD =
0.52) than from the government school (M = 3.02, SD = 0.65), t(49) = 5.64,
p < .001, r² = .39. Overall perceived benefit responses were favorable for
both locations.
A repeated-measures ANOVA was used to examine differences
comparing feelings of safety at home, government school, and the NGO
school. A significant difference was found amongst the three locations, F(2,
98) = 4.38, p = .015, η² = .082. Pairwise comparisons revealed that youth
felt significantly safer at the NGO school (M = 3.40, SD = 0.76) as
compared to the government school (M = 2.98, SD = 0.74). The youth’s
home (M = 3.32, SD = 0.98) did not significantly differ from the
government school nor the NGO school. The youth indicated that they felt
safer at the NGO school as compared to the government school though
overall perceived safety scores across all three locations were favorable.
A repeated-measures ANOVA was used to examine differences
comparing sources of encouragement comparing home, government school,
and NGO school. A significant difference was found among the three
locations, F(2, 98) = 10.08, p < .001, η² = .171. Parents were most
encouraging (M = 3.72, SD = 0.54), followed by the NGO school (M = 3.44,
SD = 0.64), and lastly the government school (M = 3.14, SD = 0.81). Only
parents and government school were shown to be significantly different (p =
.001). The youth feel encouraged across all three locations, though more so
at home.
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Table 1: Descriptive Statistics for Barriers to Education
Educational/Situational Variables M SD
1. Teachers at my school charge student fees

for tutoring or snacks. 3.12 0.96
2. Teachers at the government school do not
hit students. 2.68 0.89
3. Teachers at the government school do not
verbally abuse students. 2.62 0.61
4. My home is a safe place. 3.32 0.98
5. The NGO school is a safe place. 3.40 0.76
6. The government school is a safe place. 2.98 0.74
7. I go to school because my parents
encourage me. 3.72 0.54
8. I go to school because the NGO school
encourages me. 3.44 0.64
9. I go to school because the teachers at
government school encourage me. 3.14 0.81
10. I enjoy attending the NGO school. 3.52 0.54
11. I enjoy attending government school. 3.00 0.64
12. I feel that the NGO school will benefit me
in the future. 3.66 0.52
13. I feel that secondary school will benefit
me in the future. 3.02 0.65
* Scores < 2.50 associated with disagreement; scores > 2.50
associated with agreement
Table 2: Response Frequencies for Barriers to Education
Educational/Situational
No Yes Response Rate
Variables
1. I am required to pay
teachers for extra supplies. 2 (4%) 48 (96%) 50 (100%)
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teachers for tutoring. 8 (16%) 42 (84%) 50 (100%)
teachers for snacks. 4 (8%) 46 (92%) 50 (100%)
4. I have school supplies. 25 (50%) 25 (50%) 50 (100%)
5. I have a school uniform. 10 (20%) 36 (72%) 46 (92%)
6. I have a motorcycle. 40 (80%) 10 (20%) 50 (100%)
7. I have a bicycle. 23 (46%) 27 (54%) 50 (100%)
8. I have a smartphone. 33 (66%) 17 (34%) 50 (100%)
9. I have a computer. 44 (88%) 6 (12%) 50 (100%)
10. Do you have family
working in Thailand? 17 (34%) 32 (64%) 49 (98%)
11. Are you interested in
working in Thailand? 29 (58%) 21 (42%) 50 (100%)
Table 3: Comparison of Student Attitudes Across Government

School, NGO School, and Home
Student Attitude Government NGO School Home

School (M & SD) (M & SD)
(M & SD)
1. Enjoy attending
school 3.00 (0.64)* 3.52 (0.54)* N/A
2. School beneficial in
future 3.02 (0.65)* 3.66 (0.52)* N/A
3. School/home as a
safe place 2.98 (0.74)* 3.40 (0.76)* 3.32 (0.98)
4. School/home
encouraging 3.14 (0.81)* 3.44 (0.64)* 3.72 (0.54)*
* Significant at the .05 level
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Regarding Research Question One, educational issues persist in the

rural villages. These rural Cambodian youth are affected by many situational
factors at the macro-level that impact their access to education including:
inadequate educational infrastructure, poor educational background of
teachers, and increasing numbers of unskilled youth in the labor market.
Of particular interest were data on teachers charging fees for
supplies, tutoring, and snacks. These financial obligations among already
resource poor families act as further barriers to sustained educational
attendance and attainment. Personal resources were the most significant
micro-level barriers noted. Without transportation, school supplies, and even
electronic devices, educational success is further limited. Rather than seeing
these issues in isolation, they paint a picture of compounding issues that
restrict rural youth’s access to education, particularly over time, and make
attrition more likely. To add to the barriers, the significant number of youths
interested in migrating to Thailand for work, as well as the number of
youths with family working in Thailand, represent an important pull factor
exacerbating the educational barriers. Development initiatives targeting
education in rural Cambodia, as well as other developing contexts, should
consider the social and contextual barriers, the barriers within government
school settings, and the professional development of teachers, in order for
educational measures to be effective.
The literature shows improvements at the macro-level but generally
paints a picture that rural and impoverished Cambodians are encouraging
their children to choose work over school. The current data indicates a
counter-narrative that rural Cambodian youth are encouraged to go to school
by their parents and teachers, enjoy school, and see the benefit of education.
This data illustrates the overall positive attitudinal orientation toward
education. The lower ratings for encouragement from teachers represent a
potential growth area that may impact educational attrition issues and would
benefit from additional investigation.
Improved teacher training in Cambodia could target positive
encouragement of students and sensitization to issues of verbal and physical
abuse in schools. Teacher training could also highlight the educational
barriers related to teacher’s charging fees, though, unless addressed, teacher
pay will remain an issue. Training on effective methods of understanding
and addressing poverty through orientations such as Maslow’s (1943; 1987)
work may also positively impact student attrition. As clarified by Haggerty
(1999) and Desautels (2014), these basic needs impacted by poverty must be
addressed in order to see real comprehensive educational outcomes at a
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broader scale in rural Cambodia. The situational issues may remain more
overpowering than the encouragement and benefits perceived, despite some
of the more promising elements in the results of this study. Nonetheless,
recognizing the criticism that have been leveled against Maslow’s approach
(Wahba & Bridwell, 1976), we should simultaneously be somewhat cautious
in overly applying Maslow’s tenants. Might the context of a Cambodian
border region, and the cultural differences found when comparing Cambodia
and the Western world be sufficient to rethink application of Maslow’s
hierarchy? With the necessity of needs being met in a rank-ordered fashion
being challenged (Wahba & Bridwell, 1976), it may be that the youth are
capable of learning in the absence of foundational needs being met. Further,
the changing landscape of education within the global marketplace makes
identifying the essential skills and knowledge needed for student success in
a place like rural Cambodia a moving target. We must also consider the
barriers noted above as potentially motivating factors for students to seek
out education from various sources.
Regarding Research Question Two, evidence supports the claim that
the NGO schools are viewed by students as more favorable than the
government schools. Significant differences were found in favor of the NGO
school for the variables of enjoyment, perceived benefit, and feelings of
safety. Given the nature of the 1 (disagree) to 4 (agree) scale, results
indicate that while some students generally agreed that their locations (NGO
school, government school, and home) were favorable, not all felt this way.
The only mean to fall below a 3.00 was that for feelings of safety at the
government school, which scored a 2.98. In sum, student agreement with
the four statements (enjoyment, beneficial, safety, & encouragement) paints
a somewhat promising picture.
While the current data reflects positively on the NGO school, it
should be noted that the variables under investigation are student sentiments
that may or may not reflect real world academic gains. Data pertaining to
student success, graduation rates, post education employment, and other
more tangible outcomes would provide a relevant complement to the current
findings.
Past research on non-formal education through NGOs in Southeast
Asia confirms the current findings favoring NGO schools over government
school, at least in terms of student engagement and enjoyment (Author,
2014; 2015). NGO schools have multiple advantages over government
schools, particularly in terms of their flexibility. NGO programs can adapt
and customize their programs and curriculum based on local needs, as well
as tailor skills needed in the local job market. As well, NGO staff may have
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different opportunities to build relationships with youth in less formal
settings,
However, NGO-based non-formal education programs often face
obstacles associated with existing outside formal educational credentialing
and accreditation structures that government schools enjoy (Author, 2014;
2015). Consequently, education received from an NGO education program
may not be formally recognized in the job market or for further tertiary
education pursuits. NGO schools face other limitations as well. Resource
limitations, recruiting, training, teacher retention, and infrastructure needs
are common problems. NGO schools often face an additional challenge
regarding locally accepted pedagogical practices. As funding for NGO
schools often comes from abroad, so do ideas regarding pedagogy. NGOs
that employ educational practices that operate outside of the cultural norm
often face criticism, contention, and resistance in their local communities for
not using tradition approaches.
Although the data in this study was informative and useful for
understanding educational issues impacting rural youth, it was not intended
to be fully comprehensive at addressing all the educational barriers and
issues present. The study had several limitations. While the questionnaires
used to assess youth viewpoints had face validity, they lacked formal
validation procedures. Additionally, a larger sample size would have
allowed for less overall error in the self-response data. Further, the study
represents a snapshot in time in a setting that is dynamic; it may fail to
capture the multitude of variables that are impacting individuals and the
region. To better understand the trajectory of educational issues in light of
rapid economic and social changes in Cambodia, longitudinal research is
needed. The viewpoint of teachers, parents, and community members is also
needed to gain a broader, more holistic perspective on the educational issues
noted in this study. Finally, this study is limited in its focus on student
attitudes and perceptions, rather than concrete outcomes of educational
achievement.
Somewhat negative attitudes toward teachers imply teacher
practices as potential educational barriers that need further investigation.
Although it was evident that some verbal and physical abuse occurs in
schools, clarification through more research is necessary regarding verbal
and physical abuse and general safety. The lack of overwhelming evidence
of abuse may imply that these issues could be addressed and are not highly
prevalent. Resources dedicated to better understanding the needs of the
teachers may have a direct impact on the quality of education for the
students.
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IMPLICATIONS
It is clear that students’ basic needs are not being met in the
community, with students’ basic needs (in terms of Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs) being challenged in schools. There is a definite need to improve the
quality of government school education. Such efforts need to acknowledge
the importance of learning environments that value and foster student
physical, emotional, and economic safety. Without a safe learning
environment, free of bribery and preferential treatment by teachers, student
learning will continue to suffer at the individual and community level,
further limiting Cambodia’s development, and stifling youth development
and well-being. Such effects extend beyond Cambodia in similarly
developing societies with large rural and youth populations.
This study contributes to the field by highlighting the voices of
particular rural village youth in Cambodia who are directly affected by the
learning environments in government schools, and whose voices are often
overlooked. Much dialogue occurs regarding the increase in educational
provision for poor children and youth in developing settings. In addition to
discussion regarding curriculum and instruction, the basic needs of safety
for students, not only in terms of physical violence, but also in terms of
misuse of emotional and economic power by teachers, is often overlooked in
the literature and needs more attention. The findings of this study illustrate
the presence of these issues, implying the need for both focused and
comprehensive understandings of the relationships between the physical,
emotional, and economic well-being of rural government school attendees,
their academic achievement, and their likelihood to gain knowledge, skills,
and credentials needed for the rapidly changing Cambodian economic
landscape.
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Jeremy Tost, PhD, is a Professor of Psychology at Colorado Mesa University in

Grand Junction, Colorado, USA. His research interests lie in the area of
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jtost@coloradomesa.edu
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Richmond in Richmond, Virginia. His research interests include non-formal
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Cambodia. His work includes providing education, medical care, nutrition,
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Email: sokleng.in@lwbmail.com
Manuscript submitted: July 5, 2019

Manuscript revised: December 3, 2019
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Volume 8, Issue 2 (2019), pp. 147-172

ISSN: 2166-2681
The Reading Grannies: Modelling How to Teach

Reading
Sandra Lilian Stewart
Maropeng Modiba
University of Johannesburg, South Africa
ABSTRACT
In this paper the authors report on a literacy development intervention

in a state, primary farm school in Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN), South
Africa. Volunteers, who named themselves the “Reading Grannies”
were invited by the principal and teachers to model reading in English
to learners and teachers who were non-primary speakers of English.
The learners were to develop an ear for the language by listening to
first language (L1) speakers’ pronunciation, tone and expression and
the teachers had to improve their teaching from the modelling. The
main finding of the study is that the explicit teaching and modelling
enabled the learners to understand English better and the teachers
appreciated how teaching actively encouraged learners to read and
facilitated their understanding of English.
Keywords: Primary school, English, reading, volunteers, modelling
INTRODUCTION
In this paper, we report on a school-based early grade reading (EGR)

intervention in a rural primary school in Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN), South
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Africa. The intervention modelled how to facilitate IsiZulu-speaking
foundation phase (FP) learners’ comprehension of English by listening to,
amongst other activities, first language speakers reading stories to them. The
latter were a group of volunteers we have named The Reading Grannies
(RGs) who were invited to the school (by the principal and teachers) to help
improve the learners’ reading skills and comprehension. We have named the
school Farm School in the study.
To address the reading challenges of learners in her school, Mrs.
Thandi (pseudonym), the principal, invited the RGs to model reading in
English in the classrooms. Her main goal was to expose the teachers to how
the RGs adapted their reading to the rural primary school context, and in this
way demonstrate how they could build bridges across the learners’ language
competences. Mrs Thandi believed that the intervention would help the
teachers observe and learn what they needed to do when teaching reading in
English to facilitate language comprehension and use. The assumption was,
firstly, that listening to English stories read by first language (L1) speakers
would expose the teachers to, for example, the pronunciation, tone and
expression (phonemic awareness) that convey meaning clearly. Secondly,
this would help them improve their teaching of English First Additional
Language (FAL) and subsequently, improve the learners’ proficiency and
comprehension.
In South Africa, the medium of instruction/language of learning and
teaching (LOLT) in the FP (Grade R to three) is the primary language of the
learners. So, in the case of the school in the study, it was isiZulu. In Grade
four, it (the LOLT) changes to English and learners are expected to be able
to read to learn through it. However, many learners in rural areas seem to
encounter the language only in Grade R when they start formal schooling. In
general, they had very little or no exposure to reading in English in their
homes. Therefore, since they had to understand and learn to use English as
FAL and LOLT in Grade four, their teachers who themselves were non-
primary speakers of English, had to be assisted by the RGs to develop more
confidence and improved ability to implement the FAL curriculum policy.
Research conducted over the past 20 years shows a persistence of
“alarmingly low” (Spaull, 2013a, p. 4; Western Cape Department of
Education, 2006, p. 4) literacy levels amongst learners in South
Africa. International and national tests have also highlighted systemic
underperformance as an overriding problem particularly amongst learners
from the poorest socio-economic levels in the country. Many are unable to
read for meaning (see PIRLS 2016 results in Howie, et al., 2017). Howie et
al., (2008, p. 3) have argued that there is a tendency to mask this literacy
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problem as a “language proficiency issue” rather than a reading and
comprehension problem.
Many learners are not only struggling with literacy skills in their
second language (L2) (Pretorius, 2012; Van Rooy & Pretorius, 2013;
Pretorius, 2015) but also in their first language (L1). In many provinces,
learners continue to perform below expectations with each passing year. For
example, the PIRLS test results of 2006 and 2011 indicate that, in particular,
Black South African learners who did the test in their L1 fared worst of all
(Howie, et al., 2008; Howie et al., 2012). Spaull (2013b, p. 7) has also
pointed out that “over 80% of African language speakers in South Africa
lack the basic reading skills and strategies to cope with academic tasks” and
29% of grade 4 learners are illiterate (Spaull, 2016). Dreyer & Nel (2003),
Klapwijk (2011), Zimmerman & Smit (2014) and Zimmerman (2014) have
linked this underperformance to the lack of adequate formal instruction in
comprehension skills in the schools and Snilstveit et al. (2016) relate it to
ineffective instructional practices that are a key barrier to effective learning.
In Snilstviet et al.’s view, teachers spend more time teaching mechanical
reading skills and decoding rather than meaning making and comprehension
skills (see also Pretorius & Machet, 2004; Verbeek, 2010; Murris, 2014;
Prinsloo et al., 2015). Taylor & Taylor (2013, pp.17-18) too, also link this
underperformance primarily to the teachers’ inadequate professional
competence. More recently, the ‘Early Grade Reading Study (EGRS) Policy
Summary Report’ (DBE, 2017) has also highlighted learning to read for
meaning as one of the biggest developmental challenges facing the country.
Specifically, rural schools have been shown to be using “narrow pedagogic
techniques” (DBE, 2017, p. 3).
The underperformance persists despite the post-apartheid
redistribution of resources, curriculum reforms within the education system
and the efforts of the Department of Basic Education (DBE) to introduce
programmes aimed at providing teachers with the support and skills needed
to improve Grade 1-6 literacy levels and improve education results. The
programmes include:
1. the four-year ‘Foundations for Learning Campaign’ (DBE, 2008) as
a response to national, regional and international studies that
showed that South African children lack key skills associated with
Literacy and Numeracy. They are unable to read, write and count at
expected levels. In response, the campaign focused on improving
reading, writing and numeracy skills so that all children could have
a solid foundation for learning. It provided clear directives to the
national education system on the minimum expectations at each
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level of the General Phase of schooling (Gr R-6) to improve
learning outcomes in these crucial areas (p.3-4).
2. the ‘Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA)’ (DBE, 2015) was
developed in 2006 for use in developing countries and adapted for
the South African context in early 2007 by the Department of
Education (DOE). It has had a strong influence on education policy
in South Africa. While the EGRA is not an intervention or a
curriculum its significance for the reported study is that it
diagnostically assessed reading skills in the foundation phase (Gr 1-
3) to identify reading problems early and put in place interventions
that are adapted to learners’ needs, particularly those who are
struggling (DBE, 2015; Dubeck & Gove, 2015, p. 315). Useful to
highlight are the two main principles that underpinned EGRA;
namely: 1) that reading is acquired in phases/predictable patterns
and 2) most people learn with instruction (Dubeck & Gove, 2015, p.
316). In addition, there are five phases of literacy acquisition that
are linked to the subtasks in EGRA namely, pre-alphabetic, partial
alphabetic, alphabetic, consolidated-alphabetic and automatic
(Dubeck & Gove, 2015, p. 316). The principles and tasks provided
useful guidelines for EGR interventions.
3. the ‘Action Plan to 2014: Towards the Realisation of Schooling
2025’ (DBE, 2011b) introduced to build on the Curriculum and
Assessment Policy (CAPS) (DBE, 2011a) and strengthen the
management and monitoring of teaching and learning in provinces
and schools (DBE, 2011b, p.4). It is important to highlight that the
CAPS was introduced to “provide a more structured and sequenced
approach to literacy instruction, explicitly articulating pacing, time
on task and learning outcomes” (Pretorius & Klapwijk, 2016, p. 1)
while the Action Plan’s key goals (Goals 1, 2, 7, 16 and 20) were to
improve schooling by focusing on teachers’ pedagogic and subject
knowledge to enrich education (DBE, 2011c, p. 2-5); to strengthen
teaching and learning in schools (DBE, 2011b, p.4), amongst others,
those identified through the EGRA of 2006; and to improve
schooling by enriching the teaching skills and subject knowledge of
participating teachers (DBE, 2011c, p. 2-5). In particular Goals 1
and 16 were relevant to the study as they, respectively, aimed to
increase the number of learners in Grade 3 who, by the end of the
year, have mastered the minimum language and numeracy
competencies for Grade 3 and, improve the professionalism,
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teaching skills, subject knowledge and computer literacy of teachers
throughout their entire careers
This is the broader context in which we set out to capture both the RGs and
teachers’ views on the assistance the learners were receiving (from the RGs)
to read and understand English texts. We were particularly interested in
what the RGs were doing to improve learners’ reading and comprehension
skills and the potential benefit of their interventions to the teachers. The
hope was that the insights provided would help in achieving the Action
Plan’s goals.
In the paper we reflect on the first stage of the study. It (study) is
planned to continue until the end of 2019. Since we wished to explore views
on this stage, the study was designed to collect different types of data
through lesson observations, focus group discussions and biographical
questionnaires. This involved interacting mainly with the teachers and RGs
to collect their views on the activities witnessed and resources used in the
reading lessons. Of particular interest to us were their viewpoints on the
teaching methods and learning support materials they used to
facilitate comprehension and meaning making as proposed in the South
African curriculum policy (CAPS) for teaching English as FAL in the FP.
In CAPS for the FP, basic reading skills must be firmly established
in this level of schooling. Reading for meaning is described as a
“foundational skill that is critical in establishing an individual’s life-long
learning trajectory” (DBE, 2017, p. 2).
LITERATURE REVIEW
Learning to read as the foundation of educational development

The broad body of research on the acquisition of reading in the early
years supports the view that “teaching young children to read is the
cornerstone of improving educational outcomes” (Gove and Wetterberg,
2011, p. 1). Early childhood (around age five or six) is said to be the optimal
time for children to learn to read and develop the basic reading skills that
will promote fluency and proficiency in reading and high literacy rates
(Abadzi, 2017, p. 8). Furthermore, if they do not learn to read in the early
grades, they are likely to fail in developing high levels of fluency and more
advanced cognitive skills needed to progress to “higher levels of schooling”
(Graham & Kelly, 2018, p. 3). Therefore, early grade reading interventions
provide a useful strategy for developing cognitive skills needed in
schooling. An inability to read gives rise to problems of learners falling
behind because of being unable to “absorb printed information, follow
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written instructions or communicate well in writing” (Gove and Wetterberg,
2011, p. 1).
Luke, Woods & Dooley (2011, p. 158-160) have argued that for
rural learners from low-income communities to understand what they read,
English reading and comprehension instruction must integrate their cultural
and community knowledge. In their view, to avoid a narrow understanding,
comprehension instruction must be treated as a cognitive, social and
intellectual phenomenon (Ibid., p. 158, 160). Adapting such instruction to
the attributes of the learners by drawing on their everyday knowledge,
would help them bridge what they already know and understand in a
language to what they need to know and understand in English (see also
Clay, 1998). For Cummins (1988; 2000), such adaptation would involve
drawing on the common underlying proficiencies between the primary (L1)
and the second (L2) language.
Cummins (1988, 2000) regards the continuous introduction of new
vocabulary and more complex sentence structuring as important to develop
proficiency in a language for L2 learners who do not often use academic
English outside the classroom. For Snow (1987, 2014) and Spolsky (1987)
the decoding of content through contextualisation in concrete ways helps to
improve relationally, understanding of a L1 and the target language.
Therefore, it was important for the RGs to adapt and develop the reading
skills and comprehension of the learners by drawing on their everyday
knowledge as examples. Linking what learners already knew and
understood in isiZulu to what they needed to know and understand when
listening to English had to help build bridges across the two languages. The
RGs had to understand that in reading stories in English, the learners’
primary language had to be treated as a learning resource of equal status and
value as English. Where necessary, isiZulu was to be used as a means of
communication to facilitate understanding of the stories. It was thus crucial
for the research process to establish the RGs’ sensitivity to these ideas. The
ways in which they taught reading had to also enrich the learners’
knowledge of isiZulu as their L1.
Research on literacy development indicates that reading skills are
developed through a combination of methods. Phonological awareness print
knowledge and orthographic (writing) knowledge have been identified as
three main literacy skills integral to the successful acquisition of a
language. For example, Ioannou-Georgiou & Verdugo (2009, p. 1) consider
stories an important learning tool that promotes access to “language,
content, culture and cognition”. Concrete thinking skills, creative and
abstract thinking, reasoning and cognitive learning strategies can be
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developed as learners are guided through progressively more complex texts
while provided with opportunities to practice the target language (Ioannou-
Georgiou & Verdugo, 2009, p. 4).
Using stories to advance reading achievement

This model of reading prioritises the active involvement of the
reader (Allington, 2002). Stories are seen as encouraging the participation,
interaction and communication of learners faced with a new language. Since
they are often multimodal with pictures, sounds or songs, they can assist
learners to construct and reconstruct knowledge (Gibbons, 2002). The reader
is actively involved in thinking about what he/she is doing while reading.
Therefore, providing a context within which a new language and content can
be introduced to learners in a pleasant, comprehensible and meaningful way
(Wasik & Bond, 2001; Richards & Rodgers, 2001), enables them (learners)
to respond verbally or nonverbally when listening to a story being read.
They are able to construct knowledge even if their language proficiency is
limited because of the interactive nature of reading and the constructive
nature of comprehension.
The model supports McNamara’s (2007) argument for explicit
teaching and modelling of comprehension skills. Teachers model reading
and provide support for meaning making rather than assume that meaning
resides in the text and readers have to reproduce it. When the former is the
case, reading is a sequential process in which a beginner is expected to
acquire a set of hierarchically ordered sub-skills that build the ability to
comprehend. Mastery of these skills makes readers to be considered experts
(Dole et al., 1991). In Nunan’s (1991) view, reading in this 'bottom-up' way
involves the decoding of written symbols. McCarthy (1999), sees it as an
outside-in process in which meaning existing in the text is first interpreted
by the reader before being taken in. Readers are not viewed as passive
recipients of information.
Writing in relation to South Africa, Pretorius and Klapwijk (2016)
have highlighted a gap in research on teachers’ problems in teaching
literacy, in particular, reading comprehension. They are concerned about
interventions that provide teachers with lesson planning templates and time
management guidelines rather than immersing them “in rich reading
practices [and] a clear understanding of reading concepts, reading
development and reading methodology” (Ibid., p. 1). The study thus hoped
to develop insights that might help in addressing problems in teaching
literacy by inviting the RGs to comment on the reading lessons they had
designed, explain how they modelled reading and reflect on what they
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considered to be the effects on the learners’ reading and their interactions
with the teachers. We assumed that encouraging RGs to reflect on their
reading lessons would reveal the concepts underpinning their teaching
practices and the teachers in the rural primary school would, in turn, be
exposed to discussions that would help them understand what the RGs’
practices were based on in terms of firstly, beliefs/ideas and secondly, how
they could use the practices for improving their teaching of English as FAL.
In the 2015 Budget Vote Speech, the Minister of Basic Education,
Mrs Angie Motshekga, appealed for South Africa to “become a reading
nation!” because “[a] reading nation, is a winning nation”. The findings in
this study could also be beneficial nationally by explaining a way in which
the teaching of English reading could be sustainable and equitable because
of being school/teacher driven. Through this exploratory we thus attempted
to answer the following questions:
• How did the teachers use the RGs reading instructions and views to
broaden their understanding of how they could improve ways in
which they taught reading and develop the learners’ literacy?
• How did the RGs’ reflection on reading lessons serve as a resource
to improve the teaching of reading in the FP?
• How this school-led literacy intervention could be used to raise
teachers’ awareness of what is needed to improve how they taught
reading?
RESEARCH METHOD
The Participants
The participants were invited to complete biographical data
questionnaires containing 12 items that required information about where
they lived, their gender, present or previous occupations (for volunteers) and
level of education. The personal profiles were important to establish the
professional or other experience that would have enhanced reading ability,
learning and the achievement of the learners.
The Reading Grannies (RGs): The 15 RGs volunteers were recruited
because they were local and English first-language speakers. They had been
reading at Farm School every Monday morning for the past three years
(2016 to 2019) excluding the school holidays and exam time. However, not
all of them had training in education. Of the 11 who participated in the
study, five had teaching diplomas (n=2) and teaching degrees (n=3). Four
(n=4) were qualified nurses and two (n=2) had other degrees (one Fine Arts
and one Psychology). Their average age was 67 with the youngest 56 and
- 154 -
the oldest 78. Some of the grannies were fluent in isiZulu and this was very
helpful in their communication with the learners.
Entry into the school/the site/field was by invitation. When the
grannies first arrived at the school, they were introduced to the teachers and
learners by the principal. Thereafter, the coordinator of the reading initiative
and two other RGs were invited to meet with the principal and the
management team (SMT) to discuss the intervention. Mrs Thandi and Mr.
Zondi (T7) were to act as critical friends and guided the RGs about what the
school needed.
One of the RGs and co-author of the paper was a primary school
teacher for many years and considered herself an insider to the general
school context. Entering the field with her assistance helped to familiarise
the RGs with the school as a context to improve reading in English. They
were able to “map the setting”, learn about its rules and routines, the spaces
and places in which they would be working, meet and establish relationships
with the principal and teachers as they negotiated their new role in the
school (Barley, 2011, p. 1). Her experience as a teacher also proved valuable
in the interactions between the RGs and teachers when seeking clarity about
how reading was taught and talked about. She helped settle the RGs in the
school and obtain the perspectives, thoughts and beliefs of the teachers
about how they taught reading.
In the first two years, reading took place in all the classes from
Grade R to Grade 7. However, in 2018 it was agreed that the focus would be
on Grade R, the FP (Grade 1-3) and Grade 4 only. The change from IsiZulu
to English at Grade 4 necessitated more focused support because of a
general concern with the literacy levels of learners. Presently, in 2019, only
Grade R-3 are involved in the program so that the RGs can focus on these
early grades. Two of the RGs had met with Mrs. Thandi and Mrs. Xaba (the
HOD of the FP) earlier that morning at 8h00 to discuss the organization of
the program for the year. The excerpt below describes the first day of the
RGs in the new school year in 2018.
It is a misty Monday morning in the little farming town of

Green River (pseudonym) in the province of Kwa-Zulu
Natal. A group of women arrives at the local farm school.
They are called the Reading Grannies (RGs). There is a
ripple of excitement as they get out of their cars and greet
each other. They are excited because this is the first reading
day of the new school year. Martha, the RG coordinator
explains that the reading times have changed. The principal,
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Mrs. Thandi, has told her that the time for the first break has
changed to 10h00. This means that reading must now be
from 9h00 to 10h00. For the past 2 years, it has been from
9h30 to 10h30 but after the principal and the staff had, a
meeting with the circuit manager it was decided to make
first break earlier so that the children could eat the hot meal
provided free by the school as part of the Department of
Education’s nutrition programme. Many of the children
come to school hungry and need this nutritious meal to learn
better. The RGs are very happy to fit in with this new time
slot. However, they now only have 30 minutes left to do
reading. They quickly gather in their grade groups to discuss
how they should handle reading to their respective classes
today (Fieldnotes, Monday, 22 January 2018).
The teachers: There are eight teachers at the school and the principal
assists with teaching in Grade 2. A teacher, employed by a local NGO,
assists with teaching technology using computers. Of the six teachers who
participated in the study, the youngest was 34 and the oldest 55. Two had a
teaching diploma; two a teaching degree and another two a teaching diploma
and teaching degree. Their teaching experience varied between 4 to 30 years
with 15 as average.
The school
The school: Farm School (pseudonym) was founded in the 1950s as
two separate farm schools that combined in 1995. Generous funding used to
build the new school came from a bequest in a trust earmarked for educating
rural children, particularly those who came from socio-economically
disadvantaged homes in the area. The school serves children who live in the
area mainly with parents working on the surrounding commercial farms
(vegetables, dairy and maize). Another group of children resided in two
nearby townships. The townships are overcrowded and some of the
children’s carers are unemployed, medically unfit or addicted to alcohol or
drugs. Service delivery strikes affect transport and school attendance.
Presently there are 280 learners at the school. They are mainly
isiZulu primary language speakers. Most parents were unable to pay school
fees or contribute towards fundraising efforts. Over time, the school’s
funding from the Department of Basic Education (DBE) has proved
insufficient to upgrade the classrooms and other school facilities. It is a
print-poor environment and there is a shortage of teaching and learning
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resources especially good reading books. This became more evident when
visiting the school over the past two years. The classrooms needed repair
and teaching/learning resources. The hope was that, despite these
conditions, the RGs would provide the needed support for teachers at this
crucial level of learners’ literacy development so that they could become
independent and successful readers.
The school is non-fee paying and categorized as Quintile One
(Q1). Q1 schools are historically disadvantaged schools (HDSs) and are
often under-resourced. The RGs raised funds to improve the school’s
infrastructure and purchase classroom equipment – desks and chairs, toys
and other teaching learning support materials required to stimulate and
enrich learning. These contributions helped to build trust between the staff
and the volunteers over the past two to three years.
Data Collection
In accordance with ethical research practices written consent was
obtained from the principal, the teachers, the parents/guardians/caregivers of
the learners and the reading volunteers. The nature and scope of the study
was explained, and they were asked to complete informed consent forms.
Pseudonyms or codes were used to protect their identities and that of the
school.
Increasingly researchers and policymakers in South Africa are
focusing on identifying successful instructional interventions that are
evidence-based (DBE, 2017, p.2). However, in this study, instead, an
exploratory case study was used to provide insights about how to improve
instruction through the RGs and teacher-driven initiatives. Lesson
observations, focus group discussions and classroom artefacts were used to
collect data.
Lesson observations were used in grades R-4 to capture how the
RGs read stories to the learners and used prompts to motivate them to want
to read. Special attention was paid to the behaviour of the grannies and
teachers as it occurred during lessons (Creswell, 2012). Field notes were
used to record what was witnessed. The observations were followed by
focus group discussions with the RGs and teachers responsible for the
grades to obtain their views on the reading instructions. A semi-structured
interview schedule of questions on teaching how to read for meaning in
general and, specifically, how the RGs and teachers understood the reading
lessons given and witnessed was also used. The questions addressed issues
that the literature, international evaluations and the school identified as
important for improving reading. It was important for both the RGS and
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teachers to indicate whether the approaches were useful for dealing with the
learners’ reading and literacy problems. The RGs were encouraged to
explain their experiences of the reading lessons. The discussions with them
focused on planning for the reading, what they taught, the approaches they
used and their thoughts on whether learners developed the required reading
skills. The discussions were held at venues selected by participants e.g.
coffee shops to provide them with an environment in which they could
speak freely and individually reflect on and explain their experiences of the
reading lessons.
When engaging with the school principal and teachers, we asked
them to first, identify the learners’ needs and, second, how they thought the
RGs addressed these needs. In cases where their explanations were not
understood, as Brockman (2011) suggests, we assisted them to reflect by
posing open ended questions that started with, for example, ‘What can you
say about the reading lessons you provided?’ to encourage them to explain
their views and help us co-construct the meaning of what they expressed.
Both discussions were audio recorded. However, we were unable to
match the data collected from the teachers and RGS because first, their
teaching was driven by different factors, namely; the school curriculum
policy requirements for the teachers and, in a more general sense, the
priority of the RGs, namely, to ensure that children developed an ear and
understood English as spoken by a first language speaker. The RGs believed
that once these language competences were developed, the learners would
more easily be able to fulfil the outcomes stipulated by the policy.
Therefore, the result was that although both the teachers and RGS were
involved in developing the English language skills of the learners, when
they spoke about these skills they underscored different aspects.
RESULTS
In the classroom observations, we witnessed that generally, in the
reading sessions, the learners were encouraged to identify certain features of
the story e.g., characters, setting etc. and answer questions about the
stories. English words were often repeated and linked to the isiZulu ones.
Songs, poems, nursery rhymes, art and craft activities were used to get
learners to speak English. The RGs who could play a musical instrument
would use it in their lessons to encourage learners to sing and dance. Here is
an example of a Grade R lesson that describes how ‘Mary’ (RG1) taught
how to read using actions, rhymes, songs and a story before a drawing
activity.
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The reading lesson began with the children lining up in front of the
classroom and each child being asked to introduce him/herself. Mary then
led them in singing “Head and shoulders, knees and toes” with actions.
Afterwards they formed a circle with Mary in the middle and they had to
copy her actions and repeat what she was saying: “I am clapping. I am
walking. I am running. I am crying. I am hopping.'' She then asked the
learners to take turns and tell others what to do as if they were the teacher.
She began the exercise by saying, “Good morning teacher. What are you
going to do today?” The first learner said, “I am stretching”. The next one
said, “I am marching” and another one said, “I am kicking”. Mary helped
them to think about an action and the teacher translated into isiZulu where
necessary to promote understanding as this was a Grade R class and some of
the learners knew very little English.
After each learner had a turn to be the teacher, s/he had to go down
onto the floor and curl up into a ball as if sleeping. Mary then sang the
“Sleeping Song” and the learners had to imitate the actions. They had to
wake up and jump up and hop, hop, hop and stop! They loved this and
jumped with great excitement and enthusiasm.
The next activity was the story of Little Red Riding Hood. They had
to sit in rows and Mary began by asking them if they could remember the
story and they discussed the picture on the cover. She then began to read,
showing them the pictures. The teacher assisted with translations when the
learners seemed unsure of the words. Mary asked them to act as if they were
in the story, for example, “Knock on the door” and, “Can I come in
granny?” or “What big ears you’ve got!” After the story was finished, the
learners had to draw a picture. They took their pictures to the teacher so that
she could write their names on them. They proudly showed their pictures to
Mary who gave them each a big hug and praised their efforts. She then
asked them to sit on the carpet to sing the “Goodbye Song”. They had to
sing along and do the actions (Lesson Observation Notes, Monday, 7 May
2018). Therefore, in response to the question: ‘How did the teachers use the
RGs reading instructions and views to broaden their understanding of how
they could improve ways in which they taught reading and develop the
learners’ literacy?’, focus group discussions were used to identify
orientations in the viewpoints and concerns expressed.
The teachers’ viewpoints

The views of the teachers, specifically, about how the RGs
conveyed meaning through reading revealed an appreciation of how they
motivated the learners to read. For Mr. Zondi who had participated in 2016
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and 2017 “there had been a vast improvement in the learners’ participation
in lessons and they were speaking English with more confidence”. Another
teacher explained the involvement of the RGs as follows:
Firstly, the RGs that come to the school, they show love to the
learners. Sometimes you’ll see the Grade Rs or Grade 1s touching
them … (finds this very funny and laughs) (T1, 01 August 2018).
The visits were also very fruitful and promoted the envisaged reciprocal
relationship between the teachers and the RGs. The RGs were using a
variety of materials to read and the teachers valued the exposure to how play
and different resources could be used to convey meaning and repeat how to
pronounce words.
Using play and different resources to convey meaning in reading

The teachers explained how they were learning about using play and
different resources to convey meaning in reading as follows:
Also in the FP they teach as the learners play. They do the stories,
they do the games … it’s improved the learners’ understanding of
English because when they play you’ll hear them putting an English
word into their games … So they also use various teaching aids
when they are teaching; cards, Big Books. (T1, 01 August 2018).
From her participation and observations, T1 had learnt that it was important
when teaching English to use many teaching aids to facilitate understanding
and meaning making:
For me when you are teaching English you need more teaching aids.
That will help the learners to see what you are talking about … if
they don’t know the bear you make sure and show them what you
are talking about. (01 August 2018).
T2 liked the following:
They also teach them various songs in which they use their bodies.
When they were asked what they thought about making their own lessons
fun in the way the reading volunteers did, T2 responded as follows: “very
important as that’s how they learn.'' She continued:
Like what they did on Monday with those cards (these were
flash cards that had pictures of objects from one to twenty
on both sides) as she (RG) pulled it open it split to show the
number as words and digits. It was kind of fun but they
were also learning at the same time.
However, T1 felt that it was also important for the RGs to see what the
educators were expected to do by CAPS:
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I would like us to have a meeting and have our lesson plans
and have the RGs here to see what is supposed to be done in
class so that when they go into the class they just do what is
[in the plan] . Although they help us [and] we see the
difference and the change they have made, we would like
them to be aware of what is expected of us.
T1 continued and explained the concern about covering the curriculum as
follows:
… but you have to keep in mind that you have to do and
done what you’ve set for the day from what the CAPS
expect, then you can use the extra time and expand on the
lesson, move and push it to the end of the day. It is possible
to finish that about thirty minutes late but you must know
… that they will be learning … However, not all our
subjects can be like that. If you want to take them out to
have a game, you must keep in mind what you want to get
from the game. If you say pronunciation, understanding that
movement can be used to say the word and move in a
certain manner for the meaning of the word; you must also
have done the expected work needed for teaching and then
set the extra work for the extra time.
But, for T7, it was not a good idea for RGs’ lessons to be based on the
curriculum policy. He said:
I have a different view from this one. The grannies are not
educators and they never were supposed to come here to be
teachers. The main idea for them and us was to interact in
English so that they can be able to hear when a person
speaks English then they know how to answer. So maybe
when they listen to a story this is where I think it is going to
advance the learners’ understanding of English. If we are
strict and focused on the curriculum, it might put or cut off
the activity. That is a basic. If what they do is too formal, it
might also lose its value because it will be as if they are in
the classroom having an equal role with the educators.
Mrs Thandi also found the use of a variety of resources interesting:
… they play. They even use cards. What I noticed is that
one set of cards has multi purposes. They can say colours.
In the same set of cards, they can mention shapes I mean
they can even count. They also can read the words. They
match the picture and the words. That is what I like about it
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because even if they are doing rhymes, they even dramatise,
doing actions, using body moves. I like it very much (01
August 2018).
She also highlighted the importance of pronunciation in reading:
What I learned when I was listening to the RG in my class, I
learnt the different ways of pronunciation about how to
pronounce tortoise. I used to say tortoys (shakes her head
and laughs) and when the teacher was talking to the
children, I kept quiet [but] at the end, I was imitating her the
right way. I was thinking I must not shout this thing because
I am saying it wrong. So I was just keeping quiet! (01
August 2018).
Over the past few years, a friendly relationship has developed between the
researcher/s, the RGs, the principal and teachers. In response to the
question: ‘How did the RGs’ reflection on reading lessons serve as a
resource to improve the teaching of reading in the FP?’ they expressed the
following views presented below.
The RGs viewpoints

In general, the RGs were keen to know whether their reading
promoted interest in reading English and improved the children’s
understanding of the language. For example, in a FG discussion, two RGs
expressed their initial concerns as follows:
RG6 Most of them did not know their sounds.
Not only the English sounds. They did not
know their Zulu sounds. So then, we had
to start with the alphabet, which is what
we have been doing this term. However,
they had to learn first the Zulu alphabet
and now we are concentrating on the
sounds that are different in English to try
to and get them to see the difference.
RG5 But I do not know. Are we confusing them
by teaching them the English sounds when
they are also learning the Zulu sounds?
We are learning as we go along … we do
not know the correct way of teaching
sounds. I mean things like that, the
alphabet and how to pronounce them, they
are a problem.
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SS Would you like to know how to teach them the
correct way?
RG5&6 Yes! (emphatically)
Jane (RG2) explained the approach to teaching reading in Grade R as
follows:
We want to keep them busy because they are a very
busy little lot. Moreover, they are first year so they
do not know anything at all really. So, we start off
by telling them to greet us, we have our names on
and, they do say “Good morning Mrs X” and “Good
morning Mrs Y”. They are all sitting down when
we go into the classroom. They stand up as soon as
we come in say good morning. We start with a story
always. “Don’t we Mary?” (asks RG1 Mary).
(Mary nods her head in agreement). They get very
excited about the story. I will say to them, “What
shall we do today?” So as I said earlier we show
them the books and they say, “Ooooh not that one”
and as Mary said they like the familiar ones. They
love the familiar stories, love the animal stories. It
is always an illustrated book and we show them the
pictures. They all sit down in rows and it is very
difficult to keep them in rows. They all want to be
in the front. They want to be near us. We tell them a
story and the teacher translates for us into her
language but we do ask them to repeat the English
words and the main feature on a page. We ask them
to repeat those words. So, they’ve learnt now that if
you pick up a book and it’s got a wolf on it they all
say “wolf!” (all laugh) and make the wolf sound. It
is a story they have liked. We have got to the stage,
if we have three or four books, they choose which
story they want.
For Mary (RG1) repetition was also very important. She expressed her
viewpoint in this way:
I find they particularly like it when we repeat a
book. They love to know that they know the story
but are as interested each time, understand it better,
express themselves and interact better when they
know the story. They benefit more from it. I am
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very aware that particularly some children do not
understand English at all and unless you are
drawing them in and asking them to do things
physically, I find you can lose them. They start
bumping or so on. Particularly, I try to make
everything physical even if I fall off the chair when
it’s Goldilocks’ chair or whatever … It just keeps
everyone’s focus better if things are happening not
just hearing at this level because they don’t
understand the words on the page that we’re telling
them about. I think, for me, mainly it is just doing
things with the children and making them aware
that a strange person in that room is no threat … it
is fun. Because when we first started, some children
were actually frightened of us and withdrew away
from us… and now they long to touch us and hold
our hand, which they did not in the beginning.
In the focus group discussions, the RGs also revealed that they would like to
improve their performance and align their lessons more closely to the
curriculum. In response, one of the authors participating in the intervention
who was an experienced teacher at this level, arranged a workshop at the
school on the use of educational playing cards to develop perceptual,
cognitive, language and social skills and to teach phonics and vocabulary. It
was from 11h00 to 13h00 on the day before the third school term
commenced and was attended by teachers (n=8) and RGs (n=8). All were
actively involved in playing the games and agreed that they had learnt a lot
from their participation.
The assumption in CAPS (DBE, 2011a), is that learners come into

the school with fluency and proficiency in their first language (L1) and a
vocabulary of a significant number of words (DBE, 2011a, p. 8) that can
serve as a foundation for learning to read and write English as a First
Additional Language (FAL) (L2). Teachers are expected to build on this
foundation when teaching reading. However, this should not remain at the
oratorical level. There should be a balance between teaching mechanical
reading skills and explicitly teaching and modelling the comprehension
strategies that are needed by learners for meaning making (Pretorius &
Machet, 2004; Verbeek, 2010; Murris, 2014; McNamara, 2007). Attention
- 164 -
has to be paid to both the L1 and the FAL as learners are struggling with
these skills in their L1 as well (Pretorius, 2012; Van Rooy & Pretorius,
2013; Pretorius, 2015). Therefore, for the reading intervention studied
herein to be effective, both the teachers and RGs had to use stories, learning
resources and other activities from both English and isiZulu. It was crucial
for the RGs to be able to relate the sounds and messages in the stories they
read to the learners’ primary language.
IsiZulu had to be a resource for learning to read English stories.
Although not all involved in education in their previous lives, the RGs
seemed aware of the importance of the expected contextualisation when
teaching meaning making through reading. Therefore, in response to the
question: How this school-led literacy intervention could be used to raise
teachers’ awareness of what is needed to improve how they taught reading?,
the evidence in the study indicates that the RGs were progressively
contextualizing reading as their involvement in the school continued. They
were consciously assisting the learners to think in both isiZulu and English
to make stories easy to follow. Ensuring that the learners saw and heard the
words proved useful, in their view, in developing their comprehension of the
stories read. Some RGs could use both languages interchangeably when
necessary. Otherwise, the teacher was asked to translate so that explanations
and instructions could be clear. In addition, many of the books selected had
many pictures and little writing and this helped the learners to understand
the stories. Mr. Phungila, a principal from a neighbouring township school,
had heard about the intervention and the progress of the learners. He
commented to one of the authors that he had “heard about the Reading
Grannies and was very keen for them to come to his school to help the
learners with English”.
Snow (1987, 2014) and Spolsky (1987) have argued that decoding
content in concrete ways through contextualisation helps to improve
students’ understanding of their L1 and the target language. As an outside-in
process (McCarthy, 1999) through which written symbols (Nunan, 1991) are
decoded, it helps to improve thinking in both the L1 and L2 as they are used
as resources for learning.
Writing about such transculturation as crucial to open cultural views
and practices, Gilroy (1993) has argued against contextually specific
attributes being translated into absolute, universal standards for human
achievement and viewed as characteristic of a nationality. Instead, he pleads
for the recognition of a double consciousness that is necessary for people to
fully participate in their own cultures and those encountered. They (people)
have to be able to go beyond their bounds into spaces of simply being
- 165 -
human to see what being human really means. If able to do so, their
lifestyles will no longer end at the borders of national cultures but go
beyond them. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that because of their
good intentions, it is possible that the RGs were perhaps, inadvertently
striving for this. Therefore, the hope is that as the RGs, teachers and learners
continue to cross each other’s ethnic borders, the next phase of this reading
intervention is likely to have more impact on the reading of these rural
children. As they learn to read and use English from the RGS, the racial
boundaries will also be dismantled further at a tender age for these
children.
IMPLICATIONS
The RGs were able to describe the reading that was occurring in the
classrooms, explain the meanings they attached to it and clarify possibilities
for developing the learners reading skills and comprehension
meaningfully. They could clarify and expand on the work already done by
the teachers and they (teachers) expressed an appreciation of the ways RGs
were teaching English reading and comprehension skills. Their explicit
teaching and modelling of reading and facilitation of meaning making
(McNamara, 2007) encouraged learners to be active in learning to read and
not passive recipients of information. The hope is that as the intervention
continues, more insights will be developed and the teachers in Farm school
will develop more expertise and confidence to teach unassisted and further
improve the reading and comprehension skills of their learners.
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SANDRA STEWART, PhD, is a research associate in the faculty

of education, University of Johannesburg. Her main research
interests in teachers' professional development, teaching of English
as a second language and early grade reading interventions are a
result of her lengthy experience of teaching at primary school level
as well as lecturing pre-set teachers at university level. Published
book chapters, conference proceedings and several academic journal
papers focus on classroom teaching, curriculum policy and teacher
development. Email: sandystews@gmail.com
MAROPENG MODIBA, PhD, is a professor in the faculty of

education, University of Johannesburg. Her major research interests
- 171 -
lie in two related areas; namely, teacher education and curriculum
literacy captured by studying classroom instructional practices. The
research is interdisciplinary and at the interface of school subject-
content, cultural and education domains of inquiry. She has
published on classroom teaching, education and culture, teacher
education policy and, in general, Sociology of Education.
Contributions are in books, book chapters, conference proceedings
and several academic journal papers. Email: mmodiba@uj.ac.za
Manuscript submitted: January 24, 2019

Manuscript revised: April 20, 2019
Accepted for publication: June 30, 2019
- 172 -
Volume 8, Issue 2 (2019), pp. 173-183

Creating Common Ground:

A Process to Facilitate Interdisciplinary
Conversation Among University Faculty
Eric A. Goedereis
Danielle MacCartney
Webster University, USA
ABSTRACT
This manuscript offers a framework for encouraging faculty from diverse

disciplines to consider and evaluate their teaching, scholarship, and service
in interdisciplinary ways. This process integrates Repko’s (2008) criteria for
interdisciplinarians, Doran, Miller, and Cunningham’s (1981)
conceptualization of S.M.A.R.T. goals, and McCoy and Gardner’s (2012) five
key social structural components, in order to further cultivate faculty
members' identities as interdisciplinarians. We outline a process aimed at
facilitating interdisciplinary conversation among university faculty and
present resulting examples of faculty members’ specific action plans for their
own interdisciplinarity within their teaching, research, and service activities.
This framework provides a roadmap for faculty and institutions interested in
purposefully and meaningfully facilitating interdisciplinarity across a variety
of academic settings.
Keywords: collaboration, faculty development, faculty evaluation,

S.M.A.R.T. goals, social structures, workshop
- 173 -
INTRODUCTION
Given the complexity of the challenges facing the world today,

faculty have found themselves increasingly both implicitly and explicitly
encouraged to think and work in interdisciplinary ways and to further
cultivate their identities as interdisciplinarians – and for good reason. In terms
of developing students’ interdisciplinary, teaching is associated with greater
cognitive and intellectual development (Repko, 2009) and improved
perspective-taking (Bransford, 2000). Students tend to learn more and rate
their experiences in interdisciplinary courses more highly than courses in
standalone disciplines (Coker & Gatti, 2017). With respect to scholarship,
greater interdisciplinary research collaboration may be associated with
greater scientific impacts (Parish, Boyack, & Ionnidis, 2018). Consequently,
calls for greater interdisciplinary collaboration among faculty at institutions
of higher education has resulted in efforts to examine the evolution and
outcomes of such activities.
LITERATURE REVIEW
In their effort to map “the backbone of science,” Boyack, Klavens,

and Borner (2005) investigated patterns of influence within and across various
academic fields. By quantifying patterns of scientific impact using citation
data from over one million peer-reviewed articles drawn from over 7,000
professional journals, the authors argue that seven disciplines – namely,
mathematics, physics, chemistry, earn sciences, medicine, psychology, and
the social sciences – serve as the “hub” sciences of knowledge creation today,
though arguably, this conclusion is largely determined by how one defines
“impact”. To this end, bibliometric research by Abramo, D’Angelo, and Di
Costa (2018) suggests that, with a few exceptions, specialized, disciplinary
research outputs score higher in terms of scientific advancement than do
interdisciplinary contributions. Yet despite arguments regarding how
“impact” should be measured, it is evident that knowledge is no longer
generated exclusively within academic and disciplinary silos and as such,
there exists compelling reasons to be purposeful about cultivating
interdisciplinary identities among faculty who find themselves in position to
address interdisciplinary problems in their teaching, scholarship, and service.
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OVERVIEW OF FACULTY DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP AND
PARTICIPANTS
This manuscript offers a replicable roadmap for faculty and

institutions interested in purposefully and meaningfully facilitating
interdisciplinarity across a variety of academic settings.
Guided by Repko’s (2008) suggested criteria for interdisciplinarians,
integrating Doran, Miller, and Cunningham’s (1981) conceptualization of
S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely) goals,
and incorporating McCoy and Gardner’s (2012) five key social structural
components, the authors led an invited workshop aimed at providing a
specific process for facilitating conversations among faculty from diverse
disciplines to consider and evaluate their teaching, scholarship, and service in
interdisciplinary ways. We introduced a process by which we introduced
specific frameworks, brainstormed relevant projects, and identified
collaborators, reported out their action plans. This process effectively
cultivated interdisciplinary identities and fostered interdisciplinarity by
purposefully providing opportunity to (1) promote an interdisciplinary
mindset, (2) develop common ground, and (3) identify existing organizational
structures to facilitate interdisciplinary strategies and processes.
Approximately 80 faculty members and administrators, drawn from
various units of the university attended and participated in the workshop,
which lasted approximately three hours. Faculty participants were drawn from
diverse departments, including psychology, biology, sociology, fine arts,
music, nursing, accounting, media production, and philosophy. Assistant,
Associate, and Full Professors, part-time faculty, and the University President
and the Vice Provost, were among those who attended and participated in the
exercises.
The steps listed below outline the process followed during the
workshop. The following sections provide further details on the process, as
well as concrete examples identified by workshop participants. While the
authors led this process in a larger, approximately three-hour session, the
framework provided could be adapted to other audiences and formats.
Step 1: Promoting an Interdisciplinary Mindset

The first step in our proposed framework for facilitating
interdisciplinarity is to promote an interdisciplinary mindset by utilizing
Repko’s (2008) criteria for interdisciplinarians. Specifically, this framework
builds upon Repko’s assertion that not all interactions between disciplines is
necessarily interdisciplinary. This distinction is important because it leads
interested faculty to be purposeful in considering whether and how their work
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can be interdisciplinary. Repko frames this as a distinction between those who
are generalists and those who are integrationists.
We agree with Repko and challenge faculty interested in developing
interdisciplinary identities to strive to become integrationists, where the goal
of the activity – whether it be teaching, research, or service – is integration.
Thorpe, Ryba, and Denison (2014) offer a useful application of this
purposeful effort by integrating insights from sociology and psychology to
offer new theoretical understandings of sport. The larger rationale for such
integration is that simple explanations are not sufficient because the
questions, challenges, and work are complex. Once this distinction is
established, defining an interdisciplinary problem can benefit from Repko’s
(2008) five common criteria used by interdisciplinarians:
1. The problem is complex.
2. Important insights into the problem are offered by two or more
disciplines.
3. No single discipline has been able to address the problem
comprehensively.
4. The problem is at the interfaces of disciplines (i.e., disciplines share
a point of common interest in the problem).
5. The problem is an unresolved societal need or issue.
In our workshop, faculty were encouraged to identify activities and
problems within their own spheres of interest that met these criteria. Faculty
participants were asked to share these examples with one another in order to
begin planting the seeds of an interdisciplinary identity. Examples of
interdisciplinary projects within the domain of teaching proposed by
workshop participants included first-year and general education capstone
seminars. Other faculty members highlighted existing efforts to write
interdisciplinary research grants. And at our service-intensive institution,
faculty were quick to identify domains, including the university’s general
education program and faculty review committee, as examples where
integration is necessary. This initial exercise represents a critical step of the
process, as it allows faculty from a range of disciplines to consider or
reconsider various aspects of their work – indeed, their identities – in terms
of interdisciplinarity.
Step 2: Developing Common Ground

The next step in the process involves creating a space where faculty
can identify common ground. While many agree that interdisciplinary
approaches are necessary to solve complex problems, unfortunately, the
academy often discourages such efforts. Thus, due to disciplinary-specific
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jargon, implicit or explicit bias against other disciplines, and other factors,
finding areas of agreement can be difficult. Though it may be counterintuitive,
we encourage faculty to first work independently, then integrate their
contributions in meaningful ways with colleagues interested in a common
goal. Once the work enters the collaborative stage, participants can compare
perspectives and identify both common ground as well as “gaps” between
disciplinary understandings. For example, during this section of the
workshop, faculty in art, music, counseling, and biological sciences
brainstormed ideas for coursework in nature drawing and arts therapy,
identifying conventions in their field and how to incorporate insights from
multiple disciplines to benefit students.
In order to build common ground, participants must be clear on where
they are going. This means that a regular evaluation process must be part of
the ongoing efforts. To identify when they are making progress toward an
interdisciplinary goal, faculty collaborating on interdisciplinary work can
benefit from using the S.M.A.R.T. goal criteria popularized by Doran, Miller,
and Cunningham (1981) – an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attractive,
Realistic, and Time-bound.
Faculty should be Specific in what they want to accomplish, as well
as clear about how they will Measure their progress. Thinking clearly about
these elements enable faculty to be purposeful in operationalizing what they
seek to accomplish and how the interdisciplinary contributions of
collaborators will promote this end. Though it may seem obvious, goals
should also be Attractive to those involved in the activities. We encouraged
faculty to think about why they want to engage in the proposed work and to
ask themselves what they would get out of their effort if it is successful, if the
resulting outcome increases their identity as an interdisciplinarian, and if so,
what that does for engagement with their work and overall satisfaction with
their position. In one case, a new faculty member in nursing claimed that this
process helped her feel more integrated into the university and to cultivate
interdisciplinary mentors across the university.
Of course, just because something is desirable or attractive does not
mean that it is feasible. Thus, we asked faculty to be Realistic about their
goals as well. In our conversations with faculty, we have found it important
to balance ambitious and highly attractive ideas with existing realities. We
guided faculty to carefully consider if their goals were reasonable given
existing resources and if not, to ask themselves if there were realistic
pathways to securing additional resources. Finally, faculty were encouraged
to specify Time-bound goals so it would be clear when certain tasks will be
completed and when further evaluation could be conducted.
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Step 3: Identifying Existing Structures
Organizational structures define patterns of interaction to accomplish
particular goals. Although ideally organizational and disciplinary structures
will facilitate efforts to cultivate interdisciplinary activities, they can also pose
a barrier to such collaborative efforts. For example, Buttell and Devine (2014)
highlight how faculty “cling to disciplinary structures, while at the same time
lauding the concept of interdisciplinarity” (p. 384). Thus, the third step we
use to promote interdisciplinarity involves identifying and discussing both
existing structures to promote interdisciplinarity as well as structures that
might be lacking.
Organizational structures such as a tenure and review process outline
what steps are necessary to achieve tenure or promotion and encourage
faculty to engage in particular tasks or achieve particular objectives the
university designates as important. Universities have traditionally encouraged
disciplinary specialization to more efficiently develop new knowledge.
However, big problems are often interdisciplinary, as evidenced by Pearson,
Honeywood, and O’Toole’s (2005) discussion of the need for
interdisciplinary perspectives to create environmental education in university
settings and List, Samek, and Suskind’s (2018) proposed integration of social
science field research with behavioral economics to create a new approach to
early childhood education, to cite but two examples. In fact, as Brint et al.
(2009) note, “the growth of interdisciplinary research and teaching is now
widely recognized as a notable feature of academic change over the last 30
years” (p. 155). Consequently, funding organizations like the National
Science Foundation recognize the need for teams of researchers representing
multiple disciplines. As universities embrace the move toward
interdisciplinarity, organizational structures have or will need to be developed
to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration.
An organizational approach to facilitating interdisciplinary teaching,
research, and service should address five key concerns, according to McCoy
and Gardner (2012): time, people, departments, structures, and resources.
First, time: Since interdisciplinary collaboration requires people with
different training and background to work together, expecting quick results is
unrealistic. To facilitate real interdisciplinary work, reasonable expectations
for how long tasks will take are necessary. In some cases, this may mean re-
thinking the distribution of teaching, research, and service loads. Second,
people: Not everyone is suited to interdisciplinary work. Faculty who are
willing to learn from each other, engage in genuine collaboration under
conditions of equality, and can tolerate ambiguity are better candidates for
interdisciplinary work. Third, departments: Department chairs and
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departmental expectations for teaching, research, and service need to
explicitly support interdisciplinarity for such collaborations to be successful.
Fourth, structures: an institution’s policies and processes should explicitly
incentivize interdisciplinarity, including credit for interdisciplinary co-
authorship, team teaching, and release time. Finally, resources: Each of the
previous components require resources of some sort, including human
resources, financial and time incentives, and physical space to conduct and
discuss interdisciplinary collaboration. Importantly, engaging in
interdisciplinary collaboration requires intentional planning and sufficient
allocation of resources.
In our workshop, participants were quick to identify several examples
of how our university has historically encouraged interdisciplinarity through
collaborative coursework and service, although interdisciplinarity was not
always the explicit goal. For example, Webster University has long engaged
in reflective teaching communities that brought together faculty from around
the university to discuss topics such as ethical reasoning, metacognitive
learning, reflective teaching, scientific and quantitative learning, and
creativity and evidence. These faculty learning communities exist as
structures that facilitate the interdisciplinary exchange of knowledge around
teaching practices and have inspired collaborative teaching opportunities,
particularly in our First Year Seminar courses and in general education
capstone courses.
Also nominated as an existing structure that promotes
interdisciplinarity was the Provost’s Faculty Fellow program, which creates
opportunities for interdisciplinary service by incentivizing faculty to propose
a service project partnering with Academic Affairs, the Faculty Development
Center, the Academic Resource Center, Academic Advising, the Office of
Institutional Effectiveness, Study Abroad, or Global Program Development.
Many interdisciplinary projects have been developed from this fellowship,
including identifying best practices in student advising and tutoring,
developing mentor programs for transfer students, creating a computational
literacy learning infrastructure, and developing resources to use video for
teaching and learning. Participants also noted how the institution has
encouraged interdisciplinary research. For example, Webster’s internal
Faculty Research Grant accepts and funds applications from interdisciplinary
teams of researchers.
Faculty suggested that the biggest and most explicit structure to
facilitate interdisciplinarity in teaching, research, and service at our university
is Webster’s annual Fall Faculty Institute, which is perhaps somewhat unique
to our institution. The aim of the two-day retreat is to bring together faculty
from the entire university to participate in development workshops and
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engage in strategic planning. This structure facilitates social bonding, a factor
Klein (2010) identified as integral, though overlooked: “Social bonding is a
powerful, though underappreciated, investment in the quality of
interdisciplinary work. The social lubrication of informal gatherings provides
opportunities not only to get to know colleagues and others better but also to
engage in mutual learning and collaboration” (p. 148). Because of this
structure, faculty from a wide variety of disciplines have developed team-
taught courses and study abroad programs, written interdisciplinary grants,
created interdisciplinary research projects, and designed interdisciplinary
service projects.
Identifying existing structures or how to use existing structures to
achieve interdisciplinary ends is an important part of this process. However,
in some cases, structures may not exist. Before giving up on the possibility of
interdisciplinarity, it is helpful to identify what structures are necessary but
missing to facilitate interdisciplinarity or identifying how existing structures
could be modified to achieve interdisciplinary goals, even if that was not the
original intent of the structure. Existing internal grant programs, faculty
development programs, mentorship programs, or summer research programs
can be expanded to more explicitly incorporate interdisciplinary teaching,
learning, and service.
Assess and Adjust: Including an Evaluation Loop

To gain the benefits of interdisciplinarity, scholars must be
purposeful in identifying potential interdisciplinary problems and their scope,
as well as an appropriate mechanism for evaluation. In our workshop, we
closed by asking participants to revise their earlier questions to be truly
interdisciplinary, concluding with a subsequent discussion and evaluation of
the revised questions within the interdisciplinary framework.
At this stage, we recommend returning to the earlier discussion of
S.M.A.R.T. goal criteria and emphasizing the more recent S.M.A.R.T.E.R.
conceptualization, which explicitly includes instructions to Evaluate and
Review the goals and progress (Yemm, 2013). To this end, Carr, Loucks, and
Bloschl (2018) proposed using a program evaluation framework for
evaluating interdisciplinary research and educational efforts. A program
evaluation model could be utilized in course development and evaluation and
lend structure to existing mechanisms for program review and revision such
as those suggested by White and Miller (2014). We agree that utilizing a
program evaluation framework would be useful to evaluate the effectiveness
of an interdisciplinary collaboration and to promote accountability.
- 180 -
Using this framework, workshop participants were able to identify a

number of concrete teaching, research, and service initiatives that are
interdisciplinary. For example, in terms of teaching, participants outlined the
initial steps of an immersive, high impact student experience that integrates a
short-term field research project with a thematic study abroad experience. As
evidence of the success of this approach, since participating in this workshop,
at least three faculty members have independently and collaboratively
designed and led distinct, interdisciplinary study abroad experiences under
the university’s faculty mobility mechanism. Specifically, one faculty
member designed an interdisciplinary experience centered on Global Health
and Inequality, which he delivered in Athens, Greece. Another faculty
member designed a program in Ghana, which explored interdisciplinary
themes of the African diaspora. Other faculty members designed thematic
experiences to Thailand and Costa Rica focusing on interdisciplinary
approaches to inequality and the environment. Though these experiences were
taught by faculty from different disciplines, they each included on-ground
field research conducted through an interdisciplinary lens.
With respect to curriculum development, one participant, who
typically identifies as visual and performing arts faculty, collaborated with
faculty in counseling to design a new degree program in art therapy that
included a high impact experiential experience. Additionally, faculty in art
and biological sciences collaborated to design and offer a nature drawing
course. Other faculty discussed ideas for interdisciplinary capstone courses
on a variety of topics which, consistent with Coker and Gatti (2017), were
likely to be well-received by students. Further, since the workshop, faculty
teaching the university’s interdisciplinary capstone courses have had their
students present their work at the university’s student Research Across
Disciplines (RAD) conference. Importantly, engagement with this university-
sponsored conference by interdisciplinary faculty communicates to students
their ability to participate in this high-impact practice.
With respect to faculty service, participants who have served on the
committee to review faculty expressed a greater appreciation for the impact
of interdisciplinary teaching and scholarship. These individuals commented
on the importance of being an integrationist. Still other participants’
discussions coalesced around brainstorming proposals for the upcoming
deadline for internal faculty research grants and how these individuals might
be able to leverage this existing organizational structure to compete for larger
external grants to support a project aimed at community health promotion.
Moreover, some faculty participants have since commented that thinking
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intentionally via this framework helped them feel more engaged and
connected to the institution.
IMPLICATIONS
The format and processes outlined in this paper can be used by faculty and
administrators in a variety of institutions in order to promote purposeful
reflection and engagement at both the individual and structural levels. By
utilizing this framework, interested faculty members can cultivate and
strengthen their identities as interdisciplinarians which, as we have
demonstrated, can yield creative and impactful outcomes within one’s
classroom, scholarship, and university service activities.
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Brint, S. G., Turk-Bicakci, L., Proctor, K., & Murphy, S. P. (2009). Expanding the
social frame of knowledge: Interdisciplinary, degree-granting fields in
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Education, 32(2), 155-183.
Buttell, F.P., & Devine, J. (2014). Teaching note – Is “interdisciplinary” a bad word
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McCoy, S., & Gardner. S. (2012). Interdisciplinary collaboration on campus: Five
questions. Change, 44(6), 44-49.
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Eric Goedereis, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Academic

Director of Gerontology at Webster University. His primary research interests lie in
the area of health beliefs and behaviors across the lifespan, as well as evidence-based
practices to promote student and faculty success. Email:
ericgoedereis18@webster.edu.
Danielle MacCartney, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Fellow of

the Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies at Webster University. Her
primary research areas are the sociology of law, particularly environmental, LGBT,
and human rights law and policy, and strategies to enable faculty success. Email:
dmaccartney@webster.edu
Manuscript submitted: Apr 19, 2019

Manuscript revised: Nov 7, 2019
Accepted for publication: Nov 25, 2019
- 183 -
Book Review
Volume 8, Issue 2 (2019), pp. 184-186

ISSN: 2166-2681
The Dissertation Journey: A Practical Guide to

Planning, Writing, and Defending Your Dissertation
The Dissertation Journey: A Practical Guide to

Planning, Writing, and Defending Your
Dissertation (3rd, Ed., 2018). Carol Roberts and
Laura Hyatt, CORWIN
Reviewed by Laura Schaffer Metcalfe, Ottawa

University, USA
Roberts and Hyatt’s purpose for this text was to

create a descriptive text that will provide readers,
very likely doctoral students who are preparing to
write their dissertations, with a directed, focused,
conversational guidebook that will provide exactly what the student needs to
plan a dissertation, write each section of the dissertation, and information for
the doctoral student to defend their dissertation research. They intended to
create a straight-forward, easy-to-read-and-apply, supportive document that
helps doctoral students get started right away with their biggest challenge of
their academic career. The text is practical, guided, and forthright on what is
needed to get started with the dissertation process. Its format is simple to
and easy to read as it is broken down into chapters with information in each
chapter outlined on its own page. This simple and uncomplicated format is a
pleasure to read and it will not overwhelm doctoral students who are looking
to move into this process of their academic careers. I strongly believe that
- 184 -
authors Roberts and Hyatt have successfully accomplished their stated
purpose for this text.
The dissertation preparation field is a crowded with many different
articles and textbooks and other information sources regarding this process.
The authors wrote this text not with a theoretical lens, but rather, a lens that
provides doctoral students new to this process with a an easy-to-follow-and-
apply format to getting started, continuing, and completing the dissertation
process. I have found that this work by Roberts and Hyatt is exactly what
they purported, no nonsense and step-by-step support to getting this task
completed. The authors make a direct reference to other works that are on
this topic as a way to set themselves apart from the competition. I agree with
them that they have provided readers with a simple and uncomplex way to
get started preparing for and writing their dissertation. Additionally, the
authors include practical steps for doctoral students to remain in perspective
along the way and to understand that the feelings and issues they may be
dealing with are perfectly normal and that no two dissertations and the paths
they take to be completed are the same. These statements provide grounding
for the reader knowing they are not alone in their journey.
Roberts and Hyatt are in their third edition of this work and the
differences are concentrated. They have pointed out in the text they have
presented specific updates such as having reviewed, revised, and updated
each of the chapters in this new version of the text. Additionally, the authors
have indicated new and helpful websites that are focused on each of the
sections/chapters information that offer doctoral students’ ready resources
they can access in a single click to review for additional information. These
ready web-based supports are entitled “Resources” and this information is
located at the end of each chapter. I found the information from these
websites helpful and useful, if I were a doctoral student getting ready for
dissertation work.
The relative quality of this work to the dissertation preparation and
defense field is significant in that the reader, who is already probably
overwhelmed with having to start, move through, and complete the
dissertation process, may not know where to start. Writing a dissertation is,
usually, a one-time event and specific preparation is not always in place.
Roberts and Hyatt know that their readers are probably overwhelmed with
getting started on this process and they acknowledge this from the start of
the text. The format is short and to-the-point with just the right amount of
information outlined on each page. The doctoral student will not get lost
reading additional information they don’t need or want. Additionally, the
support of the websites at the end of each chapter offer the opportunity for
the reader to delve into more detailed information that can support and guide
- 185 -
their dissertation efforts. Customized support is helpful and needed during
this process. I can state that from personal experience, I used this text, in a
previous edition, to craft and muddle my way through my dissertation
planning, writing, and defense. I found it so helpful and useful to
successfully complete my dissertation that I’ve recommended it to some of
the doctoral students I mentor and support along their dissertation journey. It
is a high-quality contribution to the work in the field that any possibly
overwhelmed doctoral student will appreciate, just as I did.
LAURA SCHAFFER METCALFE, EdD, is an educator living in Arizona

with 25 years of progressively responsible public-school service. She was a
high school business teacher, high school principal, special education
director, career and technical education director, grant writer, public
information officer, and director of state and federal programs. She holds a
Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Communication from Arizona State
University and a Master of Education and Doctor of Education in
Educational Leadership from Northern Arizona University. She is presently
teaching for Ottawa University as a faculty member in the College of
Education. She also serves as a Section Editor and Publication Board
Member for the Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Education. She lives
in the Phoenix area with her husband, son, and two cute dogs.
- 186 -

Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Education, 2019 Vol 8 No 2

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Journal= of= Interdisciplinary= Studies= in= Education,= 2019= Vol= 8( )

Editor-In-Chief, Amany Saleh

Senior Editor, Krishna Bista

Vol. 8/No. 2 December 2019

Access this journal online at: http://ojed.org/jise

Published by: STAR Scholars Network

Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Education

Associate Editors (2019-2021)

1. Dr. Loren Henderson, University of Maryland Baltimore County, USA

Advisory Board (2020-2023)

1. Ali A. Abdi, Professor, Department of Educational Studies, The University of British

Editorial Board (2018-2021)

1. Dr. Alice M. Jackson, Morgan State University, USA [alice.jackson@morgan.edu]

35. Dr. Roberto A. Pamas, George Mason University, USA [rpamas@gmu.edu]

Aims & Scope

JISE (ISSN: 2166-2681) is published bi-annually by the Center for Excellence in

The journal is listed/indexed with all major databases.

Among the topics that Journal focuses on are:

• Educational leadership and culture of the academy

Published bi-annually, the journal encourages submission of manuscripts by US and

Editor-in-Chief: Amany Saleh, Ph.D. E-mail: asaleh@astate.edu

• High targeted ranking: Rigorous peer review of your research in a top-ranked

Statement on Open Access

Edited by Shyam Sharma | Routledge, 2019

Using qualitative data collected from more than

'An important contribution to the existing scholarship.' -

'This well-researched, informative, and timely volume about

'This is an impressive collection of well-researched chapters on Nepali higher education in a single

'The first of its kind.' - Prithvi N. Shrestha, The Open University, UK

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DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS